EQUITIES
TAIEX breaches 11,100
The TAIEX yesterday extended its momentum from a session earlier to close above 11,100 points, as buying was seen almost across the board, led by large-cap technology and financial shares. While the index breached the stiff technical resistance level ahead of the 120-day moving average of 11,087 points, turnover remained moderate, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 48.91 points, or 0.44 percent, at 11,127.93. Turnover was NT$179.195 billion (US$5.98 billion). Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$1.73 billion of shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
ELECTRONICS
Yageo secures NT$48.5bn
Yageo Corp (國巨), the world’s No. 3 supplier of multilayer ceramic capacitors, yesterday secured a syndicated loan of NT$48.5 billion from 22 lenders led by Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) and Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行). It was the biggest syndicated loan obtained by a local company in the past two years, Yageo said in a statement. The syndicated loan is 60 percent higher than the company’s original plan, it said. Yageo plans to use the loan to fund its expansion and the acquisition of US firm Kemet Corp.
BANKING
King’s Town income dips
King’s Town Bank (京城銀行) yesterday posted net income of NT$328.89 million for last month, or earnings per share of NT$0.29, an 8.36 percent year-on-year decline. In the first five months of the year, consolidated net income decreased 39.25 percent year-on-year to NT$1.61 billion, or earnings per share of NT$1.44. The lender’s non-performing loan ratio was 0.02 percent as of Sunday, while its overdue loan coverage ratio was 9,044.26 percent and its loan loss provision ratio 1.4 percent.
ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai salaries decrease
The average annual income of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) employees in Taiwan was NT$2.727 million last year, Market Observation Post System data showed. The figure included base salary, bonuses and stock dividends, and was a decrease from 2018’s average of NT$3.23 million per employee. Factoring in pensions and insurance payments, the 4,105 Hon Hai employees in Taiwan received an average income of NT$2.974 million last year, the data showed.
CHIPMAKERS
AMD’s Su tops salary list
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿豐) was the highest-paid CEO of a firm in the S&P 500 last year, according to an annual review compiled by The Associated Press and executive compensation analysis firm Equilar. Tainan-born Su was the first female CEO to top the annual review since it began in 2011. She earned US$58.5 million last year, according to the study, which examined the compensation of the CEOs of S&P 500 firms who had been in their roles for at least two years as of the end of last year.
CHIP DESIGNERS
Huawei reports denied
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday denied media reports that Huawei Technologies Co (華為) was using the company to avoid US restrictions on procurement from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). MediaTek said the reports were incorrect, and could mislead investors and the public. The firm said that it has always complied fully with global trade regulations, and its mobile products are standard and not customized to meet the needs of any particular customer.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last