EQUITIES
TAIEX follows US stocks
The TAIEX moved lower yesterday following a plunge in US markets late last week caused by a surge in COVID-19 cases there. Large-cap stocks, in particular in the bellwether electronics sector, led the downturn, pushing the TAIEX below 11,600 points, while buying rotated to biotech stocks, dealers said. At the end of the session, the benchmark index was down 118.05 points, or 1.01 percent, at 11,542.62, on turnover of NT$206.42 billion (US$6.97 billion). Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$13.85 billion of shares yesterday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
EQUITIES
Foreign investors net buyers
Foreign investors bought a net NT$15.51 billion in local shares last week, after they bought NT$153.15 billion and sold NT$137.64 billion, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said in a statement yesterday. The top three stocks overbought by foreign investors were Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), while the top three stocks oversold by foreign investors were United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), Formosa Taffeta Co (福懋興業) and King’s Town Bank (京城銀行), the TWSE said. As of Wednesday last week, foreign investors had so far this year sold a net NT$6,572.5 billion in shares and accounted for 41.1 percent of total market capitalization, the TWSE said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Alchip profit soars 275%
Chip designer Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) yesterday said that net profit last month skyrocketed 275 percent annually to NT$67 million. That represented earnings per share of NT$1.11, up 271 percent from a year earlier. Revenue grew 83.5 percent to NT$556 million last month, up from NT$303 million a year earlier, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Alchip released the monthly earnings and revenue data at the request of the stock exchange regulator due to an unusual spike in its stock price. Alchip shares yesterday closed down 3.8 percent at NT$506. They have surged about 28 percent since June 19.
TELECOMS
Chief payout plan approved
Shareholders of Chief Telecom Co (是方電訊), a subsidiary of Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), yesterday approved a plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$8 per common share, implying a payout ratio of 102.17 percent, based on earnings per share of NT$7.83 last year. The company reported a record-high profit of NT$546 million for last year, up 5.6 percent year-on-year, and record-high revenue of NT$2.4 billion, up 5.6 percent from 2018. Chief Telecom president Liu Yao-yuan (劉耀元) told shareholders that revenue this year is likely to increase by 6 to 8 percent, while earnings could increase by a double-digit percentage point.
TELECOMS
Nokia wins TWM contract
Telecom equipment maker Nokia Oyj yesterday said it has won a supply contract worth 400 million euros (US$451 million) from Taiwan Mobile Co (TWM, 台灣大哥大). The initial phase of the three-year deal, which includes 5G radio access networks, 5G core base stations and 5G IP multimedia subsystems, is to begin next month with the deployment of 5G non-standalone, with the aim of migrating to 5G standalone within three years, Nokia said in a statement. Nokia has supplied 2G, 3G and 4G equipment to Taiwan Mobile, which is set to launch its 5G service today.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San