EQUITIES
Virus worries impact TAIEX
The TAIEX yesterday moved lower to close below 17,000 points, as investors’ concerns over a surge in domestic COVID-19 cases continued. Selling focused on large-cap tech stocks, while cyclical old economy stocks also came under pressure later in the session as investors locked in gains posted in previous sessions, dealers said. The TAIEX ended down 109.99 points, or 0.64 percent, at 16,966.22, while turnover totaled NT$398.405 billion (US$14.348 billion), up from NT$350.72 billion the previous day. Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$14.97 billion of shares on the market yesterday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
ELECTRONICS
Innolux profit soars 42.3%
Flat-panel maker Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday posted NT$31.38 billion in revenue for last month, the highest in about four-and-a-half years. Revenue increased 3.4 percent from April and 42.3 percent from a year earlier. Shipments of large panels for computers and TVs rose 4 percent sequentially, while shipments of small panels dropped 2 percent. During the first five months of the year, revenue surged 56.36 percent year-on-year to NT$145.56 billion.
AUTO PARTS
Hiroca’s sales rise 10.73%
Automotive components maker Hiroca Holdings Ltd (廣華控股) yesterday reported consolidated sales of NT$8441.84 million for last month, up 10.73 percent year-on-year. Hiroca, which produces interior trim parts, as well as plastic, fabric and leather decorations, said that an increase in shipments to major automakers in China boosted its sales last month. However, revenue fell 20.78 percent from April due to a shortage of chips, the firm said. Cumulative sales in the first five months of this year rose 51.61 percent to NT$2.77 billion from a year earlier.
CHIPMAKERS
Winbond buys equipment
Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電) yesterday said that it has ordered NT$5.33 billion of manufacturing equipment from Applied Materials South East Asia Pte Ltd, after its board of directors approved a NT$378 million capital expenditure last month. Revenue last month soared 92.05 percent to NT$8.21 billion year-on-year from NT$4.27 billion last year, but edged lower 1 percent month-on-month from NT$8.3 billion in April. Cumulative revenue in the first five months totaled NT$29.63 billion from NT$15.9 billion last year.
MANUFACTURING
Value Valves demand rises
Value Valves Co (捷流閥業) yesterday reported that revenue last month rose 1.1 percent month-on-month to NT$208.1 million, the highest this year, thanks to rising demand in the electronics and petrochemical industries. However, the figure fell 0.34 percent year-on-year. In the first five months, cumulative revenue fell 8.97 percent to NT$923.91 million from last year, as major customers delayed orders over COVID-19 concerns, the firm said.
MANUFACTURING
Sheh Fung Screws revenue increases
Screw manufacturer Sheh Fung Screws Co (世豐螺絲) yesterday posted NT$244 million in revenue for last month, a spike of 71.86 percent from a year earlier on the back of selling prices hikes and strong demand from the US market. Demand for screws is gaining heat as the property market in the US market recovers and do-it-yourself home improvement projects grow increasingly popular, the Kaohsiung-based company said. Shipping clogs protracted delivery time and helped boost selling prices, it said, adding that a low base last year also lent support to the impressive showing.
ELECTRONICS
HTC VR headsets to launch
HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday said that it would launch new virtual reality (VR) headsets in its Vive lineup tomorrow. The Vive Pro 2, a successor to the original Vive Pro, is to sell for NT$24,900. It features a 120-degree field of view, a refresh rate of 120 hertz, and “premium 5K fidelity,” with 2.5k resolution per eye, HTC said. The Vive Focus 3, the latest in the firm’s series of all-in-one business-oriented VR headsets, can be preordered from today, before its June 25 launch, for NT$32,900, it said.
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
Artificial intelligence (AI) agents would supplant smartphones as the center of people’s digital lives, fundamentally reshaping personal devices and driving a major computing upgrade cycle, Qualcomm Inc CEO Cristiano Amon said yesterday. In his keynote speech for this year’s Computex trade show in Taipei, Amon said that the rise of "agentic AI" — AI systems capable of reasoning, planning and carrying out tasks autonomously — would transform how people interact with technology across phones, PCs, vehicles and wearable devices. Describing the technology as the next major evolution in computing, Amon said that "2026 is the year of agents.” For decades, smartphones have sat
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said it would work with US chipmaker Intel Corp to jointly develop and deploy next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and intelligent computing platforms in a move to capture booming demand for AI computing systems. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), said in a statement that the partnership would combine its global manufacturing scale, system integration expertise and AI data center deployment capabilities with Intel’s strengths in processor architecture, silicon technologies and software ecosystem. The companies said they plan to work on equipment used in AI data centers, including server racks powered by