TAIEX
Tech hit by lower sentiment
The TAIEX yesterday moved lower as tech heavyweights, especially in the semiconductor sector, came under downward pressure, led by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). Concerns over the market’s future have increased as market sentiment has been hurt as foreign institutional investors hold a large number of short-term futures contracts, indicating more selling on the spot market, dealers said. The TAIEX ended down 97.34 points, or 0.6 percent, at 16,215.82. Turnover totaled NT$311.224 billion (US$11 billion). Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$12.93 billion of shares on the main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
PETROCHEMICALS
Flagship’s payout hits low
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), the flagship unit of the Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), yesterday said that its board has proposed the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$2.4 per common share. The dividend, if approved by shareholders on June 23, would be the lowest in six years. Based on earnings per share of NT$3.15 last year, the payout ratio would be 76.19 percent. With the company’s shares closing at NT$101 yesterday, the proposed dividend represents a yield of 2.38 percent. The company is the third major unit of the group to report a lower dividend on last year’s weak performance. Affiliate Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said that its board has proposed a cash dividend of NT$0.59 per share, the lowest in eight years, while Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化纖) has proposed a cash dividend of NT$2.5 per share, the lowest in six years, company data showed.
TECHNOLOGY
Cisco launches incubator
Cisco Systems Inc on Tuesday opened a cybersecurity talent incubation center at the Startup Terrace in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口). The US company’s center is the first of its kind in the region. Partnering with Ausenior Information Co (日辰資訊), Cisco launched the center under its DevNet platform, which aims to help IT hardware engineers expand into software development, Cisco said. George Chen (陳志惟), senior vice president of Cisco’s Greater China operations and head of Cisco Taiwan, said that the center would help Taiwanese firms to integrate their hardware and software strengths. The center is to introduce an international certification system in three years, a move that would give Taiwanese cybersecurity specialists more visibility on the global market, Chen said.
FINANCE
Fund case fines verified
The Financial Supervisory Commission is to fine three asset management firms charged with manipulating stock prices in a labor fund bribery case in contravention of the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Act (證券投資信託及顧問法), commission Chairman Thomas Huang (黃天牧) said on Monday. Fines would be meted out to Uni-President Assets Management Corp (統一投信), Fuh Hwa Securities Investment Trust Co (復華投信) and Capital Investment Trust Corp (群益投信) next month at the earliest, Huang said. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month charged nine employees at the firms for manipulating share prices. Under the act, the commission could impose a punishment ranging from giving a warning to suspending a firm’s business for six months, or even revoking its operating license.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
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