FOREX
Reserves reach record
Taiwan’s foreign-exchange reserves hit a record last month, largely due to a massive inflow of funds, the central bank said on Friday. An increase in returns on the central bank’s investment portfolio also drove up forex reserves last month, the bank said. Data compiled by the bank showed that forex reserves as of the end of last month stood at US$469.49 billion, up US$1.32 billion from August. It was the fourth consecutive month that Taiwan recorded a new high in reserves, the data showed.
ELECTRONICS
HTC reports sales rise
HTC Corp (宏達電) on Thursday reported its first year-on-year increase in monthly sales in more than two years. HTC posted NT$1.275 billion (US$41.16 million) in consolidated sales last month, up 1.53 percent from a year earlier, it said in a statement. On a monthly basis, consolidated sales soared 73.7 percent, marking the second consecutive month of increases. Despite its efforts to develop virtual-reality headsets, strong competition in the global smartphone market squeezed HTC’s sales for the first nine months of this year, with cumulative revenue falling 58.17 percent from a year earlier to NT$8.2 billion.
ELECTRONICS
ASE issues green bonds
ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, on Thursday issued US$300 million of green bonds to offset its emissions. The company is the fourth to sell green bonds in Taiwan after Far Eastern New Century Corp (遠東新世紀), Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) and Chi Mei Corp (奇美實業), but the first to issue foreign currency-denominated green bonds, the exchange said.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
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