CHIPMAKERS
Macronix revenue slumps
Memorychip maker Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) on Monday reported that its consolidated revenue shrank 9.7 percent to NT$3.75 billion (US$121.09 million) last month from NT$4.15 billion the previous year. In the third quarter, revenue totaled NT$10.04 billion, little changed from NT$10.5 billion in the same period last year, but up 13.06 percent from NT$8.88 billion in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電) reported that its revenue inched up 0.07 percent year-on-year to NT$4.318 billion last month from NT$4.315 billion, with third-quarter revenue of NT$13.678 billion, up 9.03 percent from NT$12.545 billion in the same period last year and 1.39 percent from the second quarter.
AIRLINES
VietJet to offer free flights
Vietnamese airline VietJet yesterday said it is to launch a promotional campaign today offering 70,000 free or discounted tickets for flights to Vietnam from Taiwan and other nations in the region. A random number of tickets for flights from Taiwan are to be offered online each day between 1pm and 3pm, some of them free and some at steeply discounted prices, the budget carrier said, urging people to try their luck on its Web site. However, passengers will be required to pay the flight tax and online booking service fee, even if they obtain a free ticket, the airline said. Tickets procured during the promotional period would be valid for use between Nov. 1 and June 30 next year except for those on the Taichung to Hanoi route, which must be used by March 30 next year, VietJet said. The airline operates 57 round-trip flights per week on seven routes between Taiwan and Vietnam — from Taoyuan, Taichung and Kaohsiung to Hanoi, and from Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to Ho Chi Minh City.
INVESTMENT
Tsai touts Saint Lucia
The government is to encourage top Taiwanese manufacturers to invest in infrastructure in Saint Lucia to help its development and elevate the partnership between Taiwan and the Caribbean nation, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday. Tsai made the remarks at a meeting with Saint Lucian Prime Minister Allen Michael Chastanet, who is in Taipei to participate in today’s Double Ten National Day celebrations, the Presidential Office said. Taiwanese investment in Saint Lucia is based on the principles of reciprocity and mutual assistance, Tsai said, citing as an example an Internet project built by Taiwan to provide free wireless coverage on the Caribbean island. Tsai also thanked Chastanet for voicing his support for Taiwan’s international participation at last year’s UN Climate Change Conference and at this year’s UN General Assembly. Saint Lucia first established diplomatic ties with the Republic of China in 1984, but in 1997 switched recognition to the People’s Republic of China. It severed its ties with Beijing and recognized Taiwan again in 2007 and opened its embassy in Taipei in June 2015.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
NT dollar falls again
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell NT$0.042 to close at NT$30.968 against the greenback as exporters sold NT dollars, which hit its lowest level in 19 months. Turnover totaled US$899 million during the trading session. It was the seventh straight day of losses for the local currency as it matched the declines of other Asian currencies such as the won and the Hong Kong dollar. The won fell 0.15 percent, while the Hong Kong dollar fell 0.1 percent.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Nvidia Corp’s GB300 platform is expected to account for 70 to 80 percent of global artificial intelligence (AI) server rack shipments this year, while adoption of its next-generation Vera Rubin 200 platform is to gradually gain momentum after the third quarter of the year, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said. Servers based on Nvidia’s GB300 chips entered mass production last quarter and they are expected to become the mainstay models for Taiwanese server manufacturers this year, Trendforce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) said in an interview. This year is expected to be a breakout year for AI servers based on a variety of chips, as
Global semiconductor stocks advanced yesterday, as comments by Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) at Davos, Switzerland, helped reinforce investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI). Samsung Electronics Co gained as much as 5 percent to an all-time high, helping drive South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI above 5,000 for the first time. That came after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose more than 3 percent to a fresh record on Wednesday, with a boost from Nvidia. The gains came amid broad risk-on trade after US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of tariffs on some European nations over backing for Greenland. Huang further
HSBC Bank Taiwan Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) and the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance cooperation on the suspicious transaction analysis mechanism. This landmark agreement makes HSBC the first foreign bank in Taiwan to establish such a partnership with the High Prosecutors Office, underscoring its commitment to active anti-fraud initiatives, financial inclusion, and the “Treating Customers Fairly” principle. Through this deep public-private collaboration, both parties aim to co-create a secure financial ecosystem via early warning detection and precise fraud prevention technologies. At the signing ceremony, HSBC Taiwan CEO and head of banking Adam Chen (陳志堅)
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