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.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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