A ban on listed companies holding annual general meetings (AGMs) is to be lifted after Wednesday next week, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.
A total of 446 companies plan to hold AGMs next month, but the number of participants per room must not exceed five, it added.
The commission does not think it is necessary to extend the AGM ban, as the number of COVID-19 cases has been declining, it said in a videoconference.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The commission on May 20 announced the ban on AGMs from May 24 to Wednesday next week to curb public gatherings, affecting 1,931 companies, which were asked to postpone the meetings to next month or August.
Among the 446 companies that have applied to hold their AGM next month, 54 companies had more than 50 investors and nine had more than 100 investors attend their meetings last year, Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director Kuo Chia-chun (郭佳君) said.
Companies have to adhere to the Central Epidemic Command Center’s (CECC) rules limiting indoor gatherings to five people.
For companies planning to accommodate more than five people, they have to set up more rooms to comply with CECC rules, and ensure that connections between companies and shareholders is smooth, Kuo said.
Although the commission cannot fine or punish noncompliant companies, local city governments have said that they would inspect to see if companies follow the rules, Kuo said.
Most of the 446 companies told the commission that they would use more than one room for AGMs to ensure safety and follow disease prevention measures, she added.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investment project in Arizona has progressed better than expected, but it still faces challenges such as water and labor shortages, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Yeh Chun-hsien (葉俊顯) said yesterday. Speaking with reporters after visiting TSMC’s Arizona hub and attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland last week, Yeh said TSMC’s Arizona site turned a profit of NT$16.14 billion (US$514 million) last year in its first full year of mass production. “TSMC told me it was surprised by the smooth trial run of the first fab, which has left the company optimistic about the project’s outlook,”