EQUITIES
Foreigners buy more shares
Foreign investors last week bought a net NT$63.46 billion (US$2.23 billion) of shares after they bought a net NT$44.21 billion the previous week, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday. The top three shares bought by foreign investors were Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) and AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), while the top three sold were Evergreen Marine Corp (Taiwan) Ltd (長榮海運), Pegatron Corp (和碩) and Li Peng Enterprise Co (力鵬), the exchange said in a statement. As of Friday last week, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$21.7 trillion, or 46.12 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
CHIPMAKERS
UMC warns of delays
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) said it and a small number of customers could encounter adjustments to wafer shipment dates, after an abnormality on Saturday caused a power outage in its gas insulated switchgear equipment that led to a short-term electrical interruption at two of its fabs in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區). In a statement posted on the company’s Web site on Sunday, UMC said that it “will closely monitor the situation and update the latest shipment status to customers accordingly if this happens.”
AUTO PARTS
Laster posts record revenue
Automotive lighting module maker Laster Tech Co Ltd (麗清科技) yesterday posted revenue of NT$509 million for last month, the highest in the company’s history on the back of strong seasonal demand and a continuing recovery in China. Consolidated revenue was up 6.83 percent month-on-month and 19.95 percent year-on-year. For the whole of last year, cumulative revenue increased 5.61 percent to NT$4.35 billion, the company said in a statement. Laster attributed the annual growth to rising shipments of LED lighting modules and headlight control modules, as major auto brands move toward new energy vehicles, electric vehicles and smart technologies.
RESTAURANTS
Tai Tong revenue surges
Tai Tong Food & Beverage Group (瓦城泰統集團) yesterday posted revenue of NT$415.38 million for last month, up 11.8 percent month-on-month and 1.36 percent year-on-year. The company, which operates Thai Town Cuisine (瓦城泰式料理) and five other restaurant chains, said that last month’s revenue boosted its fourth-quarter to a record-high of NT$1.2 billion, up 4.4 percent year-on-year. Cumulative revenue for last year fell 5.89 percent year-on-year to NT$4.61 billion due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic early last year, it said in a statement.
TECHNOLOGY
CloudMile raises US$10m
CloudMile Ltd (萬里雲互聯), a start-up focused on artificial intelligence and cloud services, yesterday announced that it had raised US$10 million in B round funding, which would allow the four-year-old firm to strengthen its research and development, recruit international talent and expand in overseas markets, such as Malaysia and Indonesia. The latest funding round was spearheaded by Substance Capital, a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm. CDIB Capital Group (中華開發資本), Black Marble Capital Management Co (萬豐資本), and an investment fund set up by Yuanta Asia Investment Ltd (元大亞洲投資), the Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院) and the Institute for Information Industry (資策會) also participated in the funding round, CloudMile said.
From India to China to the US, automakers cannot make vehicles — not that no one wants any, but because a more than US$450 billion industry for semiconductors got blindsided. How did both sides end up here? Over the past two weeks, automakers across the world have bemoaned the shortage of chips. Germany’s Audi, owned by Volkswagen AG, would delay making some of its high-end vehicles because of what chief executive officer Markus Duesmann called a “massive” shortfall in an interview with the Financial Times. The firm has furloughed more than 10,000 workers and reined in production. That is a further blow
MOBILE SMART: The Dimensity 1200 is 22 percent better in terms of performance than its predecessor, and 25 percent more power-efficient, the handset chip designer said MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday unveiled its premium 5G processors — the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 — as it vies for a larger slice of the world’s rapidly growing 5G smartphone market. Manufactured using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (台積電) 6-nanometer process technology, the Dimensity 1200 processor performs 22 percent better than the previous generation Dimensity 1000+ processor, and is 25 percent more power-efficient, MediaTek said. Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi Corp (小米) and Realme Mobile Telecommunications (Shenzhen) Co (銳爾覓移動通信) are to be the first adopters of the latest Dimensity chips, the companies said during a virtual media briefing. Xiaomi plans to equip its first
Answering to a reported request by Germany to help address a chip shortage in its auto industry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday said that it was in talks with domestic chip suppliers. Foreign media over the weekend reported that German Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier had sent a request to Taipei to ask Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to cooperate more closely with German automakers to provide microchips and sensors, to bridge a shortage that has emerged over the past few months. The MOEA said that it had not yet received the request and could therefore not elaborate
FOCUS ON FOUNDRIES: An analyst said that some investors would be disappointed because they were expecting a larger announcement of a partnership with TSMC Intel Corp’s incoming chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger on Thursday pledged to regain the company’s lead in chip manufacturing, countering growing calls from some investors to shed that part of its business. “I am confident that the majority of our 2023 products will be manufactured internally,” Gelsinger said. “At the same time, given the breadth of our portfolio, it’s likely that we will expand our use of external foundries for certain technologies and products.” He plans to provide more details after officially taking over the CEO role on Feb. 15, but Gelsinger was clear that Intel is sticking with its once mighty
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