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.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
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