SOLAR WAFERS
Crystalwise to cancel shares
Sapphire substrate maker Crystalwise Technology Inc (兆遠電子) yesterday announced a capital reduction scheme in which it would cancel 120 million common shares, or 57.979 percent of those in circulation, to pare accumulated losses. The scheme would reduce its capitalization to NT$870 million (US$28.76 million) from NT$2.071 billion, it said. Shareholders are to vote on the scheme at the annual general meeting on June 16, before it is presented for regulatory approval. The plan should be completed by the third quarter of this year, Crystalwise said. It reported net losses of NT$1.83 per share in the first three quarters of last year.
BANKING
King’s Town buyback starts
King’s Town Bank (京城銀行) yesterday began a new round of share buybacks in a bid to buoy its share price, which has fallen 12.84 percent so far this year. The Tainan-based bank said that it is repurchasing 10 million common shares, or 0.88 percent of its issued shares, on the open market at NT$28 to NT$35 per share. It plans to continue the buyback until May 15, or later if its share price falls below that range, it said. King’s Town Bank shares closed up 0.34 percent in Taipei trading to NT$29.2 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
RETAIL
Tah Hsin to reduce capital
Tah Hsin Industrial Co (達新工業), which produces waterproof garments and shoes, on Monday said that its board of directors approved a plan to reduce its capital by NT$594 million, or 30 percent, to boost shareholder returns and earnings per share, and adjust its capital structure. After the capital reduction, Tah Hsin’s paid-in capital would fall to NT$1.39 billion from NT$1.98 billion, a company regulatory filing said. It plans to return NT$3 per share to shareholders following the capital reduction, in addition to a proposed cash dividend of NT$3.65 per share. Tah Hsin’s revenue last year fell 4 percent to NT$2.44 billion, but net income rose 204 percent to NT$698 million, thanks to asset disposal gains.
AIRLINES
CAL given negative rating
Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評) on Monday downgraded its credit outlook for China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) from stable to negative, based on its uncertain cash flow recovery. “We expect CAL’s cash flow to weaken significantly over the next few months due to the widening effects of COVID-19 and high uncertainty over the time frame for recovery in cash flow,” Taiwan Ratings said in a statement. The ratings agency at the same time affirmed its “twBBB+” long-term and “twA-2” short-term issuer credit ratings on the Taiwanese carrier.
BANKING
Yuan deposits hit low
Deposits in Chinese yuan held by local banks last month dropped to a fresh six-year low of 251.931 billion yuan (US$35.9 billion) as electronics companies wired money to China to settle trade payments, while other investment options gained popularity, the central bank said. The business disruptions in China amid the COVID-19 outbreak also affected yuan deposits in Taiwan, it said. The latest balance suggested a decline of 3.98 billion yuan, or 1.56 percent, from January and represented the lowest level since February 2014. Yuan deposits at local banks’ domestic banking units fell 4.72 billion yuan, or 2.1 percent, to 219.857 billion yuan, while deposits at their offshore banking units added 739 million yuan, or 2.36 percent, to 32.074 billion yuan.
AI REVOLUTION: The event is to take place from Wednesday to Friday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center’s halls 1 and 2 and would feature more than 1,100 exhibitors Semicon Taiwan, an annual international semiconductor exhibition, would bring leaders from the world’s top technology firms to Taipei this year, the event organizer said. The CEO Summit is to feature nine global leaders from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), Applied Materials Inc, Google, Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc, Microsoft Corp, Interuniversity Microelectronic Centre and Marvell Technology Group Ltd, SEMI said in a news release last week. The top executives would delve into how semiconductors are positioned as the driving force behind global technological innovation amid the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, the organizer said. Among them,
Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips should spur growth for the semiconductor industry over the next few years, the CEO of a major supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said, dismissing concerns that investors had misjudged the pace and extent of spending on AI. While the global chip market has grown about 8 percent annually over the past 20 years, AI semiconductors should grow at a much higher rate going forward, Scientech Corp (辛耘) chief executive officer Hsu Ming-chi (許明琪) told Bloomberg Television. “This booming of the AI industry has just begun,” Hsu said. “For the most prominent
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said Taiwan’s government plans to set up a business service company in Kyushu, Japan, to help Taiwanese companies operating there. “The company will follow the one-stop service model similar to the science parks we have in Taiwan,” Kuo said. “As each prefecture is providing different conditions, we will establish a new company providing services and helping Taiwanese companies swiftly settle in Japan.” Kuo did not specify the exact location of the planned company but said it would not be in Kumamoto, the Kyushu prefecture in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電) has a
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