EQUITIES
TAIEX flat due to US markets
Shares in Taiwan closed nearly flat yesterday, after moving into consolidation mode, as investor sentiment was dictated by a lackluster performance on Wall Street after a hawkish statement given by US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, dealers said. Lingering concerns over Russia’s war with Ukraine also weighed on the main board, with the bellwether electronics sector — led by large-cap semiconductor stocks — taking the brunt of the pressure, they said. The TAIEX closed down 0.65 points at 17,559.71, after moving between 17,468.55 and 17,573.29. Turnover totaled NT$235.455 billion (US$8.25 billion), with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$354 million of shares on the main board after buying a net NT$196 million on Monday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
EQUITIES
Foreigners sell NT$39.32bn
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$39.32 billion of local shares after selling NT$180.98 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement on Monday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$478.75 billion of local shares from the beginning of the year, it said. Last week, the top three shares foreign investors sold were China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), while the top three shares they bought were China Steel Corp (中鋼), Tatung Co (大同) and Pegatron Corp (和碩), the exchange said. As of Friday, the market cap of shares held by foreign investors was NT$22.52 trillion, or 41.60 percent of total market cap, it said.
ELECTRONICS
Tong Hsing revenue to drop
Tong Hsing Electronic Industries Inc (同欣電), an image sensor packaging services arm of Yageo Corp (國巨), yesterday said revenue this quarter would likely drop by a single-digit percentage from a quarter earlier due to seasonal factors. However, the firm remains positive about its business performance for the whole of this year, expecting revenue to hit another record compared with last year’s NT$13.88 billion, as customer demand remains strong, Tong Hsing president Heinz Ru (呂紹萍) told investors in a teleconference. Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor image sensor packaging services would grow at the fastest rate this year, while ceramic substrate, radio-frequency module and mixed IC module businesses would also see steady growth, he said. The firm’s new production facilities in Taoyuan’s Bade District (八德) are expected to begin installing equipment in August and start volume production in the fourth quarter, chief operating officer Chang Chia-shuai (張嘉帥) said. The firm has budgeted a capital expenditure of NT$1 billion for this year. Net profit rose 90.6 percent year-on-year to NT$2.77 billion last year, the highest in the firm’s history, with earnings per share rising from NT$7.88 to NT$15.49, company data showed.
LOTTERY
Winning invoices unclaimed
Four NT$10 million-winning uniform invoices and nine NT$2 million winners issued in November and December last year remain unclaimed, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The winning serial number for the NT$10 million prize is 31150905 and the one for the NT$2 million prize is 28564531, the ministry said. It urged those with winning receipts who have yet to claim their prize to do so by the May 5 deadline. The ministry said the winning numbers for invoices issued in January and last month would be drawn on Friday.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address