EQUITIES
Lotus IPO under review
The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) is expected to complete its review of Lotus Pharmaceutical Co Ltd’s (美時化學製藥) application to trade its shares by the middle of next month, TWSE president Chien Lih-chung (簡立忠) told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei yesterday. If approved, it would mark a relaxing of exchange regulations, as Lotus would be the first company to debut on the bourse even though it reported accumulated losses of about NT$1 billion (US$31.88 million) as of the end of last year. Current regulations do not allow loss-making companies to be listed. Three other companies have expressed interest in applying for an initial public offering (IPO) under the relaxed rules, Chien said.
TRADE
New bilateral tariffs begin
Preferential tariffs between Taiwan and Paraguay take effect today, after the government agreed to remove or reduce tariffs on 31 categories of Paraguayan products, the Bureau of Foreign Trade said yesterday. In return, Paraguay agreed to reduce tariffs on 14 categories of Taiwanese products, as a follow-up to an economic agreement that took effect in February last year, the bureau said. In the first six months of this year, bilateral trade reached US$47.68 million, up 88 percent year-on-year, with Taiwan enjoying a trade surplus of US$2.7 million, the bureau said.
MANUFACTURING
Renovations set for EPZ
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday unveiled a plan to renovate the Taichung export processing zone (EPZ), which was established 50 years ago to focus on the optoelectronic industry. The work would be completed in sections to meet the needs of the companies in the zone, the ministry said. Work on employee dormitories would start by the end of this month, it said. The zone is home to 42 companies and 9,574 employees, the ministry said, adding that the EPZ is fully utilized, but 60 percent of its buildings are more than 40 years old.
LABOR
Increase in jobs expected
The number of positions available in the nation’s job market next quarter is expected to increase by 36,400 from this quarter, the Ministry of Labor said on Tuesday. The increase is being attributed to growing demand for personnel to fill vacancies left by employees resigning or retiring, Department of Statistics head Lo Yi-ling (羅怡玲) said. The greater demand is also being driven by the fourth quarter being the peak season for tech products and Taiwanese companies returning home, Lo added.
AVIATION
Cathay chairman to retire
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空) yesterday announced that chairman John Slosar is retiring, the latest top executive to leave the carrier since it drew Beijing’s ire over employees participating in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests. Slosar, 63, is stepping down and would be replaced by Patrick Healy, a veteran executive from the Swire Group, the airline’s majority shareholder, Cathay said in a statement. In a filing to the territory’s stock exchange, Cathay said Slosar, who has been chairman since 2014, “confirmed that his resignation is due to his retirement and that he is not aware of any disagreement with the board of the company.” The handover would take effect on Nov. 6 at the conclusion of the company’s board meeting, Cathay said.
Japanese technology giant Softbank Group Corp said Tuesday it has sold its stake in Nvidia Corp, raising US$5.8 billion to pour into other investments. It also reported its profit nearly tripled in the first half of this fiscal year from a year earlier. Tokyo-based Softbank said it sold the stake in Silicon Vally-based Nvidia last month, a move that reflects its shift in focus to OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. Softbank reported its profit in the April-to-September period soared to about 2.5 trillion yen (about US$13 billion). Its sales for the six month period rose 7.7 percent year-on-year
CRESTING WAVE: Companies are still buying in, but the shivers in the market could be the first signs that the AI wave has peaked and the collapse is upon the world Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported a new monthly record of NT$367.47 billion (US$11.85 billion) in consolidated sales for last month thanks to global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Last month’s figure represented 16.9 percent annual growth, the slowest pace since February last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 11 percent. Cumulative sales in the first 10 months of the year grew 33.8 percent year-on-year to NT$3.13 trillion, a record for the same period in the company’s history. However, the slowing growth in monthly sales last month highlights uncertainty over the sustainability of the AI boom even as
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
AI BOOST: Next year, the cloud and networking product business is expected to remain a key revenue pillar for the company, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu said Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted its best third-quarter profit in the company’s history, backed by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Net profit expanded 17 percent annually to NT$57.67 billion (US$1.86 billion) from NT$44.36 billion, the company said. On a quarterly basis, net profit soared 30 percent from NT$44.36 billion, it said. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said earnings per share expanded to NT$4.15 from NT$3.55 a year earlier and NT$3.19 in the second quarter. Gross margin improved to 6.35 percent,
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