EQUITIES
TAIEX dips on profit-taking
The TAIEX closed slightly lower yesterday, after coming off a historical intraday high, as investors locked in their gains from the first two sessions of this year, dealers said. Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which had been a driver of the main board’s gains in the previous two sessions, was affected by profit-taking, dealers said. TSMC fell 0.91 percent to close at NT$650. Buying rotated to select old economy and financial stocks, which lent support to the broader market, they said. The TAIEX closed down 26.39 points, or 0.14 percent, at 18,499.96. Turnover totaled NT$337.983 billion (US$12.24 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$9.34 billion of shares on the main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
AUTO PARTS
BizLink revenue up 6.59%
Wire harness maker BizLink Holding Inc (貿聯控股) yesterday posted revenue of NT$2.88 billion for last month, up 6.59 percent month-on-month and 44.13 percent year-on-year. BizLink, the sole supplier of wiring harnesses for battery management systems in Tesla Inc Model 3s, said in a statement that last month’s revenue rose above US$100 million for the first time in the company’s history. “Healthy year-end demand boosted sales, with shipments to data center customers rising, but shipments to electrical appliance customers slowing, while shipments to customers in our other segments stayed stable,” the company said. Total revenue for the whole of last year grew 27.03 percent year-on-year to NT$28.68 billion, the company said.
MANUFACTURING
Airtac profit up despite virus
Pneumatic components supplier Airtac International Group (亞德客) yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$2.25 billion for last month, up 16.87 percent month-on-month and 13.74 percent year-on-year, as the company’s shipments gradually returned to normal, despite the unstable COVID-19 situation and power restrictions. “Although the [COVID-19] pandemic situation in some cities in China [has been] unstable recently, the company’s production and shipments have not been affected, with both orders and shipments remaining good in the first couple days of January,” Airtac said in a statement. The company said its overall revenue for the whole of last year grew 32.96 percent to a record of NT$25.4 billion. It is optimistic about its operations this year, so it aims to maintain a 110 percent production utilization rate to increase inventory and meet traditional peak-season demand from March, Airtac said.
ELECTRONICS
Lite-On posts record revenue
Electronic components supplier Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday reported record revenue of NT$15.06 billion for last month, up 0.94 percent from a month earlier and 12.04 percent from a year earlier. The company said its information technology and consumer electronics business, which accounted for 56 percent of its total sales, posted annual growth of 15 percent in sales last month. That was thanks to healthy shipments of notebook PC power adapters and power supplies for gaming, as well as keyboards and mice, coupled with smooth delivery of laser models of multifunction peripherals, it said. The company’s optoelectronics, and cloud and artificial intelligence of things segments reported 8 and 5 percent increases in sales respectively. Due to solid demand from its core business, cumulative sales for whole of last year totaled NT$164.83 billion, up 4.91 percent from 2020.
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese prosecutors suspect that three people successfully smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia Corp artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China after first exporting them to Japan, people familiar with the matter said. The trio was detained last week by the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office for allegedly falsifying documents related to exports of Super Micro Computer Inc servers containing advanced Nvidia chips, which the US has barred from sale to China without a license from Washington. The move marked Taiwan’s first public crackdown on AI chip diversion after years of pressure from the US to take a more active role in curtailing
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) employee bonuses are likely to grow more than 30 percent this year, in line with the past few years as the company’s profits continue to set new records, an anonymous source cited TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) as saying yesterday. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is committed to taking care of its workers, the source said, citing Wei’s meeting with employees yesterday morning. Wei also expressed gratitude to employees for their contribution to the company’s improving bottom line, the source added. Since 2023, TSMC’s employee bonuses have grown at an annual rate of
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