FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Reserves increase US$705m
The nation’s foreign-exchange reserves were US$480.39 billion as of the end of last month, an increase of US$705 million month-on-month, the central bank said yesterday. The increase was mainly due to management returns, although they were partially offset by the depreciation of the British pound and other reserve currencies against the US dollar, the bank said. Separately, the market value of securities and New Taiwan dollar deposits held by foreign investors was US$350.5 billion at the end of last month, accounting for 73 percent of the nation’s foreign-exchange reserves, the bank said.
ELECTRONICS
Qisda posts record sales
Electronics manufacturer Qisda Corp (佳世達) yesterday posted record-high sales of NT$14.59 billion (US$483.9 million) for last month, up 33 percent month-on-month and 0.86 percent year-on-year, thanks to increased contributions from subsidiaries Sysage Technology Co Ltd (聚碩), Topview Optronics Co (勝品電通) and Ace Pillar Co (羅昇). The company returned to full production last month from disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it said. First-quarter revenue declined 1.6 percent year-on-year to NT$39.2 billion, but Qisda said that it is seeing an increase in demand for panels due to increased telecommuting and distance learning. The company remains positive about the long-term prospects for digitalization, automation and cloud computing, it said.
ELECTRONICS
Cable orders boost Sinbon
Sinbon Electronics Co (信邦電子), which produces cables, connectors and modems, on Monday reported consolidated sales of NT$4.51 billion for last quarter, up 9.76 percent quarter-on-quarter and 11.29 percent year-on-year. It was the highest level for the first quarter in the company’s history, which it attributed to resumed production in China and a rush of orders for cables used in ventilators amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Sinbon’s shipments in the industrial control devices segment last quarter grew 7.39 percent year-on-year, while those in the green energy segment increased 39.78 percent, the company said. Shipments in the medical and healthcare segment rose 6.97 percent, it said.
TRANSPORTATION
THSRC revenue tanks
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) yesterday posted its lowest revenue in nearly 10 years, as the COVID-19 pandemic saw most people stay at home to avoid infection. Revenue fell 13.03 percent month-on-month and 40.28 percent year-on-year to NT$2.38 billion last month, compared with a decline of 31.87 percent the previous month, THSRC said on its Web site. “The COVID-19 outbreak reduced revenue and ridership in March,” the company said. Combined first-quarter revenue fell 18.38 percent year-on-year to NT$9.6 billion, from NT$11.76 billion last year, the company said.
FOOD DELIVERY
Deliveroo to exit Taiwan
UK-based food delivery company Deliveroo on Monday unexpectedly announced that it plans to stop providing services in Taiwan on Friday as it is reallocating resources to Europe from the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions. The COVID-19 pandemic is part of the reason behind the decision to exit Taiwan 19 months after entering the market in October 2018, the company said. Deliveroo did not offer free delivery when the coronavirus outbreak began, unlike its peers Foodpanda and Uber Eats.
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) shares yesterday notched their best two-day rally on record, as investors flock to the Taiwanese chip designer on excitement over its tie-up with Google. The Taipei-listed stock jumped 8.59 percent, capping a two-session surge of 19 percent and closing at a fresh all-time high of NT$1,770. That extended a two-month rally on growing awareness of MediaTek’s work on Google’s tensor processing units (TPUs), which are chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications. It also highlights how fund managers faced with single-stock limits on their holding of market titan Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are diversifying into other AI-related firms.
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