FINANCE
NT$1.3 billion repatriated
Twenty-six companies and 15 individuals have applied to repatriate more than NT$15.88 billion (US$519.43 million) since a repatriation bill took effect on Aug. 15, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. About NT$8 billion has been approved and NT$1.3 billion has so far been repatriated, the ministry said. One company ran into difficulties remitting funds from China and failed to deposit the money in a special account at a local bank within one month as stipulated, so it would have to apply again once the funds are available, the ministry said. The bill provides for a preferential tax rate of 4 percent in the first year and 5 percent in the second year if the pledged investment materializes within a certain time frame.
SOLAR ENERGY
Final trading day set
Gigastorage Corp (國碩科技) yesterday said that the last trading day for its shares would be Nov. 22 as the Solar wafer maker works on a capital reduction program to offset accumulated losses. Trading of the new replacement shares is set to begin on Dec. 2, the company said in a regulatory filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Gigastorage plans to reduce its capital by NT$1.33 billion, or 39.27 percent, to NT$2.06 billion, which would lift its net value from NT$6.8 billion to NT$11.19 billion, the filing said. The company reported consolidated revenue of NT$6.37 billion in the first nine months of this year, down 15.8 percent from the same period last year. It has reported combined losses of NT$4.07 billion over the past two years.
EQUITIES
FII net purchases continue
Foreign institutional investors (FII) yesterday bought a net NT$6.94 billion of shares on the main bourse, the 11th consecutive session of net purchases of shares, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said. That helped the TAIEX close 18.9 points, or 0.17 percent, higher at 11,315.02 on turnover of NT$112.621 billion, the exchange said. Since the beginning of this month, foreign investors have purchased a net NT$104.38 billion of local shares, exchange data showed. Dealers said that the TAIEX staged a mild rebound and closed above 11,300 points as the prospects of a first-phase trade deal between the US and China being signed next month buoyed investors.
ENERGY
Sinwu facility unveiled
Papermaking conglomerate YFY Inc (永豐餘控股) has unveiled the nation’s largest biogas production system in northern Taiwan, which is expected to supply power to about 10,000 households when it becomes fully operational next year. The plant in Taoyuan’s Sinwu District (新屋) consists of three biogas-powered generators that can produce 28,000m3 of biogas and provide 3,960 kilowatts of power per day, the company has said. Two of the three generators are operational, with the third scheduled for completion in the third quarter of next year, the firm said.
TRADE
Vietnam imposes new duties
Vietnam yesterday slapped five-year tariffs on Chinese and South Korean color-coated steel products, with anti-dumping duties of 2.53 percent to 34.27 percent for Chinese products, and 4.71 percent to 19.25 percent for South Korean goods, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade said. The move follows a five-year extension of anti-dumping duties on some cold-rolled stainless steel products from Taiwan, China, Indonesia and Malaysia, the ministry said last week.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure
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