INVESTMENT
Fintech investment rises
Taiwan’s financial institutions last year invested NT$18.21 billion (US$655.39 million) in financial technology (fintech), up 10.25 percent from NT$16.52 billion in 2019, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday. Last year’s figure comprised NT$14.16 billion from banks, NT$1.16 billion from securities and futures brokerages, NT$2.62 billion from insurance companies and NT$270 million from other financial institutions, the commission said. This year, fintech investment is expected to increase 29 percent to NT$23.5 billion, including NT$17.45 billion from banks, NT$2.36 billion from securities and futures brokerages and NT$2.96 billion from insurance companies, the commission added.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Vanguard to issue bonds
Vanguard International Semiconductor Co (世界先進) yesterday said it is to issue NT$5 billion in unsecured corporate bonds to finance its capacity expansion plans and environmental protection-related capital expenditures. The five-year bonds include NT$4.3 billion in tranche A with a fixed coupon rate of 0.57 percent and NT$700 million in tranche B with a fixed coupon rate of 0.52 percent, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said in a regulatory finding. Vanguard said the corporate bonds would be issued through a public offering by underwriters, with KGI Securities Co (凱基證券) as the lead underwriter. The issuance date is Wednesday next week, the firm added.
NUTS AND BOLTS
OFCO planning share sale
OFCO Industrial Corp (久陽精密) yesterday said it plans to sell shares to strategic investors via a private placement, as the maker of nuts and bolts aims to increase capital. The company’s shareholders approved a plan to issue a maximum of 15 million new common shares for the private placement, it said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Proceeds from the private placement would be used to repay loans and bolster the company’s working capital, the filing said. OFCO reported NT$2.31 billion in revenue in the first eight months of the year, up 168.7 percent year-on-year, which it attributed to increasing orders from Europe amid the EU’s ongoing anti-dumping investigation into Chinese goods.
PLASTICS
Asia Polymer’s profit spikes
Plastic materials maker Asia Polymer Corp (亞聚) yesterday reported net profit of NT$269 million for last month, up 352.14 percent from a year earlier, and revenue of NT$788 million, an annual increase of 93.26 percent. Earnings per share were NT$0.45, the firm said in a regulatory filing. The firm mainly produces low-density polyethylene and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer resins. It is a major beneficiary of the increase in demand for EVA for solar panels in China and footwear products in Western countries. In the first half of the year, it reported net profit of NT$1.48 billion, up 302 percent year-on-year, with earnings per share of NT$2.54.
ENERGY
TCC to invest NT$5.5bn
Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥) on Monday said it plans to invest in renewable energy projects by setting up large energy storage systems at its factory in Yilan County’s Suao Township (蘇澳) and at the Hualien Hoping Industrial Park (花蓮和平工業區). The company plans to invest NT$5.5 billion in the new projects, it said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The energy storage systems would be backups and help stabilize the power grid, the firm said.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”