EQUITIES
TAIEX falls 313.27 points
The TAIEX yesterday fell more than 300 points, after concerns over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine drove heavy losses on US markets at the end of last week. Selling occurred across the board, with investors dumping liquid large cap tech stocks in the bellwether electronics sector, in particular in the semiconductor industry, pushing the main board below 18,000 points. The TAIEX closed down 313.27 points, or 1.71 percent, at 17,997.67. The electronics sector led the downturn, falling 2.19 percent, with the semiconductor subindex down 2.30 percent. Turnover on the main board totaled NT$259.44 billion (US$9.31 billion), with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$20.67 billion of shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
EQUITIES
Foreigners invest NT$15.5bn
Foreign investors last week bought a net NT$15.5 billion of local shares in the first week after the Lunar New Year holiday, compared with a net NT$62.08 billion of shares sold prior to the week-long holiday, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$22.17 billion of local shares from the beginning of this year, it said. Last week, the top three shares that foreign investors bought were EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子) and CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控), while the top three sold were United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), Innolux Corp (群創) and Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), the exchange said. As of Friday, the market cap of shares held by foreign investors was NT$24.8 trillion, or 43.72 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
UMC halts some production
Contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday said that operations at its subsidiary in Suzhou, China, have been partially suspended after a factory worker tested positive for COVID-19. UMC said in statement that it would gradually suspend production at the unit run by HeJian Technology (Suzhou) Co (和艦科技) to assist local authorities in screening all workers for COVID-19, after which full operations would resume. UMC said it remained upbeat about its first-quarter sales despite the incident, given that HeJian’s monthly production only accounted for about 5 percent of the company’s total revenue. UMC also predicted that its first-quarter shipments would remain stable, and that product prices and gross margin would also rise.
PLASTICS
FPG posts mixed results
The four major subsidiaries of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團) yesterday posted mixed revenue results for last month, as rising global crude oil prices boosted sales at Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC, 台塑石化) and Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), while the Lunar New Year holiday and low seasonal demand dragged down sales at Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC, 台灣塑膠) and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (FCFC, 台灣化學纖維). FPCC reported that revenue increased 5.7 percent month-on-month to NT$64.42 billion as revenue from its refining business increased 4.5 percent and naphtha cracking grew 15.7 percent. Nan Ya’s revenue rose 2.1 percent to NT$35.27 billion, but FPC’s sales declined 5 percent to NT$23.93 billion, while FCFC registered a 3.1 percent revenue drop to NT$30.31 billion.
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
HSBC Holdings PLC is deepening its commitment to Taiwan as the economy emerges as one of the bank’s fastest-growing markets globally, driven by an artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom, expanding cross-border trade, and rising wealth creation. “The advantage that Taiwan has is a growth story linked to the semiconductor and broader AI industries, strong underlying corporate performance, and wealth creation,” said Surendra Rosha, HSBC’s co-chief executive for Asia and the Middle East, in an exclusive interview with the Taipei Times on June 2, during this year’s HSBC Taiwan Conference. That combination has helped HSBC cement its position as the most profitable international
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
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
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