Rallies on the local bourse might extend into the first quarter of next year as the arrival of the 5G era is expected to spur technology product replacement and benefit local firms in their global supply chains, US asset management firm PGIM Inc said yesterday.
The US, China and South Korea have launched commercial 5G services that might become full-blown next year, providing an earnings growth catalyst for local component suppliers, Prudential Financial Inc’s asset management arm said.
Mutual funds and foreign institutional players have raised holdings in local equities in the past several months, pushing the TAIEX above 11,600 points, it said.
The local bourse would continue to attract global capital seeking to take advantage of the 5G transformation, while Taiwanese semiconductor firms have offered rosy business guidance for this quarter and the next, it added.
Handset chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Tuesday unveiled its first 5G system on chip ahead of the launch of 5G smartphones by Chinese brands during the Lunar New Year holiday.
Foreign funds yesterday boosted their net positions by NT$1.44 billion (US$47.21 million), Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed, although the TAIEX shed 0.26 percent to 11,617.08 points on concern about US-China trade talks.
Turnover fell to NT$104.88 billion, from NT$108.87 billion in the previous session, the data showed.
Unease arose after US President Donald Trump signed into law a bill supporting Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters, despite China’s calls for him to block the legislation.
However, UBS Group AG said in a note that the legislation is unlikely to derail the planned inking of a “phase one” deal between Washington and Beijing, as the two sides seek to separate the Hong Kong issue from trade talks.
Trade de-escalation is beneficial to both sides and could result in a black-and-white agreement in January, UBS said.
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
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