ENERGY
Vote to affect a single plant
Only Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County can be considered for delayed decommissioning, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) said yesterday. The plant is the only facility that can apply for a stay of decommissioning, as it has more than five years before its originally scheduled decommissioning, Tseng said, adding that the application deadline for the other two nuclear power plants has lapsed. Tseng’s comments came after voters passed a referendum that paves the way for the use of nuclear power beyond 2025. State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is ready to carry out the stay of decommissioning for Ma-anshan, once a decision is made by the government, a company spokesperson told the Taipei Times yesterday, adding that the technical aspects of the process would not pose as a major concern. Ma-anshan has enough capacity on site to safely store spent nuclear fuel rods to sustain operations through 2025, they said. The facility is also equipped with an advanced boiling-water reactor that produces only 10 percent as much spent fuel rods as older technologies, the spokesperson said.
CEMENT
Taiwan Cement shares fall
Shares in Taiwan Cement Corp (台灣水泥) yesterday fell 5.23 percent to NT$33 as the company completed the issuance of US$400 million in convertible bonds, the largest by any Asian cement company and the biggest in the past year by any Taiwanese company. The bonds are listed on the Singapore Exchange. They are linked to the New Taiwan dollar and have a conversion price of NT$41, representing a 16 percent premium over the stock’s NT$35.35 closing price on Monday. Taiwan Cement has raised about US$950 million, including US$549 million in global depositary receipts that the company issued in July.
ELECTRONICS
Containerized center set up
Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), yesterday announced that it shipped a containerized data center from the company’s manufacturing base in Wujiang, China, and installed it for the Singapore-based Campana Group in just 50 days. The energy-efficient, 200 kilowatt data center was set up in Yangon, Myanmar, as part of the Singapore-Myanmar International Submarine Cable Project, which targets Southeast Asia’s growing demand for online activities and digital life. Delta said that its containerized solution is highly scalable and can be deployed rapidly, as opposed to the two-year construction time required for traditional data centers. Over the past few years, containerized solutions have become the best choice for data centers used in edge computing and disaster recovery, Delta said.
DIGITAL PAYMENT
Jkos toasts politician’s loss
Jkos Network Co Ltd (街口網絡) founder and chief operating officer Kevin Hu (胡亦嘉) yesterday denied all wrongdoing over a spat with former Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City councilor Wang Wei-chung (王威中), who in March had cast doubt over the payment app’s security. Jkos celebrated Wang’s defeat in Saturday’s nine-in-one elections by offering its users a 20 percent cash rebate limited to NT$100 on a first-time purchase yesterday. Regarding Wang’s threat to take legal action against alleged election manipulation, Hu said that he did nothing wrong and that the cash rebate took place after the ballots were counted. Hu promised that Jkos would continue to celebrate any defeats Wang has in the future.
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
TARIFF CONCERNS: Semiconductor suppliers are tempering expectations for the traditionally strong third quarter, citing US tariff uncertainty and a stronger NT dollar Several Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers are taking a cautious view of the third quarter — typically a peak season for the industry — citing uncertainty over US tariffs and the stronger New Taiwan dollar. Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) said that customers accelerated orders in the first half of the year to avoid potential tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump’s administration. As a result, it anticipates weaker-than-usual peak-season demand in the third quarter. The US tariff plan, announced on April 2, initially proposed a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese goods. Its implementation was postponed by 90 days to July 9, then
AI SERVER DEMAND: ‘Overall industry demand continues to outpace supply and we are expanding capacity to meet it,’ the company’s chief executive officer said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter rose 27 percent from the same quarter last year on the back of demand for cloud services and high-performance computing products. Net profit surged to NT$44.36 billion (US$1.48 billion) from NT$35.04 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, net profit grew 5 percent from NT$42.1 billion. Earnings per share expanded to NT$3.19 from NT$2.53 a year earlier and NT$3.03 in the first quarter. However, a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar since early May has weighed on the company’s performance, Hon Hai chief financial officer David Huang (黃德才)