PHARMACEUTICALS
Adimmune plans expansion
Vaccine maker Adimmune Corp (國光生技) and its subsidiary Enimmune Corp (安特羅生技) on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with Singapore-listed Innovalues Tech for a joint venture in Southeast Asia to explore local markets. Innovalues Tech is a subsidiary of private equity group Northstar (北極星), with capital of US$350 million. Innovalues Tech has positioned itself as a provider of biomedicine-related products and has invested in several medical centers in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. The joint venture is expected to be established before the end of the year, with the initial goal of introducing influenza, tetanus and enterovirus vaccines to Southeast Asian markets, Adimmune said in a statement. The new company would later expand its product line to COVID-19 vaccines, it said. An overseas joint venture would facilitate clinical trials, drug permit applications and marketing of its products locally, Adimmune said, adding that it would consider establishing more bases overseas if the venture proves successful.
FUNDS
New ETF to make debut
CTBC Taiwan ESG Leading Semiconductor exchange-traded fund (ETF) beneficiary certificates are to debut on the main board tomorrow, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday. The new ETF is issued by CTBC Investments Co (中國信託投信) and its underlying index is the ICE Factset Taiwan ESG Leading Semiconductor Index, the exchange said in a news release. The ICE index is compiled and maintained by ICE Data Indices LLC to track the performance of high-quality or dividend-paying semiconductor companies listed in Taiwan, the exchange said. The index is comprised of 30 stocks, it said. Including the new ETF, there are 120 listed ETFs, tracking domestic and international exchanges’ equity, bond, commodity and other investment tools to meet investors’ diverse appetites and asset allocation purposes, the exchange said.
EQUITIES
TWSE to hold conferences
The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) plans to hold online investors’ conferences for three foreign listed companies to give investors more information about their business performance in the first quarter of this year. HY Electronic (Cayman) Ltd (虹揚科技) and Yonggu Group Inc (永固集團) are to present their financial results and business development strategies on Tuesday next week, while Kingcan Holdings Ltd (福貞控股) is to hold a virtual conference on June 7, the exchange said in a statement. Apart from giving investors a better understanding of these companies’ operations, it is also hoped that the relationship between investors and the three firms would be enhanced, the exchange said.
CHIPMAKERS
SigmaStar planning IPO
Chipmaker SigmaStar (星宸科技) is seeking to raise at least 5 billion yuan (US$782.4 million) in an initial public offering in Shanghai, people familiar with the matter said. The start-up is working with advisers toward a share sale on the NASDAQ-style STAR board as soon as this year, the people said. The company is targeting a valuation of 30 billion yuan to 50 billion yuan, one of the people said. Founded in 2017, SigmaStar designs chips for security systems, sports cameras, self-driving vehicles and smart home devices, among other products, according to the company’s Web site. Its backers include China’s Kunqiao Capital (昆橋資本) and SummitView Capital (武岳峰資本), CB Insights has said.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
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