STOCKS
TAIEX closes up 0.16%
Shares in Taipei yesterday ended slightly higher after moving in consolidation mode throughout the session. Turnover was reduced amid lingering concerns about US-China trade tensions after new tariffs imposed by Washington and Beijing against each other’s goods took effect on Sunday, while turmoil in Hong Kong also kept many investors away from the trading floor. The TAIEX closed up 16.80 points, or 0.16 percent, at the day’s high of 10,634.85, on turnover of NT$104.833 billion (US$3.34 billion). Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$3.93 billion of shares on the main board, the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s data showed.
INVESTMENT
Acer unit plans rights issue
Acer Cyber Security Inc (安碁資訊), a subsidiary of PC brand Acer Inc (宏碁), yesterday said that it is planning a rights issue to raise NT$204 million to strengthen its working capital ahead of its debut on the local over-the-counter market. Its board of directors has approved a plan to issue a maximum of 3.71 million new shares at NT$55 per share, it said in a statement. The company swung back into profit last year, with earnings per share of NT$4.72. Cumulative revenue in the first seven months of the year rose 27.62 percent year-on-year to NT$320 million.
EDUCATION
Teachers offered AI courses
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday announced a collaboration with the Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute (TSRI) to provide “cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI)” courses for teacher training to help nurture future professionals for the nation’s AI industry. The courses, which are based on MediaTek’s AI NeuroPilot platform and use its AI processing unit, started last week in Hsinchu and Tainan, with more than 80 participants from more than 10 universities and vocational institutions, MediaTek said. It is to also provide 30 software systems for AI platform development through the courses, a company statement said.
TOURISM
Singapore may gain from HK
Singapore’s hotels, entertainment venues and restaurants could be the prime beneficiaries of increased tourism as the Hong Kong protests rage on, DBS Bank Ltd said yesterday. The protests over the past 13 weeks have hurt the territory’s tourism sector, with visitor arrivals falling by 12 percent over June and July to about 5.2 million, the Hong Kong Tourism Board said. If 30 percent to 50 percent of travelers from key markets such as China, the UK and US now divert their trips to other Asian cities, “there could be 5-8 percent boost to monthly tourist arrivals,” with Singapore primed to reap the rewards, DBS said in a note.
TRANSPORTATION
Ai-1 Sport on sale
Motorcycle vendor Aeon Motor Co's (宏佳騰) sub-brand A Moto (宏佳騰智慧電車) released its first electric scooter, the Ai-1 Sport, which comes in five colors, on Wednesday. It uses the same motor and battery swapping system as Gogoro Inc’s (睿能創意) S2 series. The scooter features the Croxera 5 smart dashboard, that can direct riders with audio and visual guidance to the nearest battery swapping station, an a Moto official said yesterday. A Moto last month opened 12 battery swapping and repair outlets, and a bigger battery swapping station in Kaohsiung, the official said. The company is working on a second electric scooter with Gogoro, she added.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
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