RETAIL
Eslite to exit Shenzhen
Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活), which operates the Eslite bookstore chain (誠品書局), plans to close its Shenzhen outlet in China at the end of the year, citing the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a change in international accounting rules, Eslite spokesman Wu Li-chieh (吳立傑) said in a statement on Friday. Eslite would record an asset impairment loss of NT$182 million (US$6.15 million) and an income loss of about NT$187 million, due to the early termination of its property lease, he said.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla opens Tainan station
Electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc on Friday announced the opening of a V3 Supercharger station in Tainan, less than a week after its first electric vehicle charging station opened in Taipei. The new station, which has eight charging stalls, is at the Tainan Art Museum’s Building 2 and is larger than the facility at National Taiwan University in Taipei, which opened on Monday last week, with only three charging stalls. The V3 Supercharger stations, first unveiled last year, charge vehicles at a peak rate of 250 kilowatts (kW), compared with the previous generation, which had a peak rate of 145kW, Tesla said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
WPG revises T3EX bid
Semiconductor components distributor WPG Holdings Co’s (大聯大投資控股) board of directors has agreed to raise its public tender offer price for shares of freight forwarder and logistics operator T3EX Global Holdings Corp (台驊國際投控) to NT$32 per common share, up from the NT$28 per share it first proposed on June 18, WPG said on Saturday. The new offer price represents a premium of 4.74 percent compared with T3EX’s closing price of NT$30.55 on Friday.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth