EQUITIES
Select tech recoup losses
The TAIEX yesterday closed higher after seesawing ahead of 17,000 points on a day when turnover hit an all-time high. Select tech heavyweights recouped earlier losses on bargain hunting, and steel and shipping sector stocks attracted rotational buying in a market still bolstered by high liquidity, dealers said. The TAIEX ended up 41.06 points, or 0.24 percent, at 16,865.97 on turnover of NT$483.834 billion (US$17.02 billion). Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$1.80 billion of shares on the main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. “Some investors remained anxious, waiting for TSMC’s [Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, 台積電] investor conference on Thursday to find out the company’s results for the first quarter and its guidance for the second quarter, as well as for 2021,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) manager Alex Huang (黃國偉) said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Fab equipment sales soar
Global sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment last year surged 19 percent to a record US$71.2 billion, up from US$59.8 billion in 2019, industry association SEMI reported yesterday. SEMI expects global sales of wafer processing equipment to hit a new record this year, after major chipmakers announced new capital expenditure plans for this year, SEMI Taiwan president Terry Tsao (曹世綸) said in a statement. SEMI data showed that China for the first time last year surpassed Taiwan to become the largest semiconductor equipment market, with sales surging 39 percent year-on-year to US$18.72 billion, while sales in Taiwan edged up 0.2 percent to US$17.15 billion, sales in South Korea grew 61 percent to US$16.08 billion and sales in North America fell 20 percent, after three years of growth.
CHIPMAKERS
MediaTek sales hit record
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s largest IC designer, on Tuesday posted record-high monthly and quarterly sales driven by big shipments of 5G smartphone and TV chips. The company posted consolidated sales of NT$40.15 billion for last month, up 23.33 percent from February and up 75.89 percent from last year — the first time its revenue has exceeded NT$40 billion in a single month. First-quarter sales also set a company record for a single quarter at NT$108.03 billion, up 12.06 percent from a quarter earlier and up 77.5 percent from a year earlier, MediaTek said. The figure beat the company’s earlier sales guidance for the quarter of NT$96.4 billion to NT$104.1 billion.
CHIPMAKERS
TSMC faces temporary power outage
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that a seven-hour power outage at South Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) mainly disrupted the production of 40-nanometer chips at one of its factories. TSMC said it was still evaluating the cost of the power outage at its Fab 14 P7 site, which according to local media reports was estimated at NT$1 billion (US$35.14 million). When the power went off from 11:06am to 6:23pm, the company managed to resume operations with the use of its diesel power generators, TSMC said. According to the state-run Taiwan Power Co (台電), the seven-hour power outage was caused by damage to an electric cable near a power substation at the science park during construction work.
STOCK EXCHANGES
TWSE backs gender equality
The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said that it was pleased last month to join more than 100 exchanges worldwide in celebrating the seventh annual “Ring the Bell for Gender Equality” initiative. “Standing together, the TWSE and exchanges around the world held events or ceremonies to encourage the private sector to jointly promote women’s rights in economic participation,” the exchange said in a news release yesterday. On March 15, TWSE chairman Hsu Jan-yau (許璋瑤) and president Chien Lih-chung (簡立忠) led all senior executives in ringing the bell, demonstrating the exchange’s commitment to promoting gender equality and presenting Taiwan’s achievements in ensuring women’s empowerment, the release said. The TWSE said it had earlier marked a global 2021 Corporate Governance Evaluation Educational Sessions initiative, through which it urged all listed firms to advance gender equality and sustainable development.
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) said it expects peak season effects in the fourth quarter to continue to boost demand for passenger flights and cargo services, after reporting its second-highest-ever September sales on Monday. The carrier said it posted NT$15.88 billion (US$517 million) in consolidated sales last month, trailing only September last year’s NT$16.01 billion. Last month, CAL generated NT$8.77 billion from its passenger flights and NT$5.37 billion from cargo services, it said. In the first nine months of this year, the carrier posted NT$154.93 billion in cumulative sales, up 2.62 percent from a year earlier, marking the second-highest level for the January-September
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