EQUITIES
Foreigners net sold NT$24bn
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$24.06 billion (US$867.9 million) of local shares after buying a net NT$4.5 billion the previous week, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. The top three shares sold by foreign investors last week were China Steel Corp (中鋼), AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), while the top three bought were USI Corp (台灣聚合化學品), HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) and Innolux Corp (群創光電), the exchange said. As of Friday last week, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$23.17 trillion, or 44.04 percent of total market capitalization, NT$46.23 billion lower than the previous week, it said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
SEMI show in December
The annual SEMI Taiwan trade show, which normally takes place in September, has this year been rescheduled to Dec. 28 through Dec. 30, due to a local COVID-19 outbreak, the event’s organizer said yesterday. The show is to take place at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 1, it said. About 550 companies are registered to showcase their most advanced technologies in 2,000 booths, SEMI Taiwan said. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) and Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) are among the participants, SEMI Taiwan said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Hon Young’s plan approved
The Ministry of Science and Technology yesterday approved Hon Young Semiconductor Corp’s (鴻揚半導體) application to invest in the Hsinchu Science Park (竹科新竹園區). Hon Young is a wholly owned semiconductor unit of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) focusing on the development of new-generation silicon carbide chips, microelectromechanical systems and silicon-related products, such as ultra-high voltage and power management ICs. It plans to invest NT$3.76 billion in the park to develop next-generation chip technology and help establish a local supply chain, the ministry said.
TECHNOLOGY
WEF expands lighthouse
The World Economic Forum (WEF) yesterday announced the addition of 21 new sites to its Global Lighthouse Network, which is a community of world-leading manufacturing facilities and value chains using the so-called “Fourth Industrial Revolution” technologies to increase efficiency and productivity, in tandem with environmental stewardship. Taiwanese LCD panel makers AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) and Innolux Corp (群創光電), as well as electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), are among the new entries to WEF’s lighthouse designation, a press release said.
PROPERTY
Evergrande saga costly
China would seek to avoid social and financial instability stemming from the resolution of cash-strapped developer Evergrande Group’s (恆大集團) troubles, but the economic costs could be large, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report yesterday. While Chinese authorities would try to protect “the company’s home-buyers, suppliers and contractors,” Evergrande’s “financial strife could restrict funding access for property companies and Chinese issuers, damage the asset quality of certain banks, and disrupt the real estate market,” Moody’s managing director and Asia-Pacific chief credit officer Michael Taylor said in the report.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six