EQUITIES
Foreign selling spikes
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$83.02 billion (US$2.86 billion) of local shares after selling a net NT$7.2 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$552.81 billion of local shares from the beginning of the year, it said. Last week, the top three shares foreign investors sold were United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), Innolux Corp (群創) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), while the top three shares they bought were CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控), EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) and China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), the exchange said. As of Friday, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$21.97 trillion, or 41 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
COMPUTERS
Ennoconn hits record sales
Industrial computer maker Ennoconn Corp (樺漢科技) yesterday reported that sales for last month were a record for March, bringing cumulative sales in the first quarter to a record high, despite headwinds such as the Russia-Ukraine war and raw material shortages. Consolidated revenue increased 41.4 percent month-on-month and 15.7 percent year-on-year to NT$9.56 billion, the company said in a statement. First-quarter revenue was up 20 percent annually to NT$24.22 billion. Ennoconn said the growth was across the board for its three major business units: with the design and manufacturing segment contributing 18.2 percent to the company’s total revenue, systems integration 40 percent and brand business 41 percent, it said.
E-COMMERCE
Momo sales rise 23.3%
E-commerce operator Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體) yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$7.53 billion for last month, up 23.3 percent from a year earlier and hitting a record for March. The online shopping business, which has benefited from a changing consumer pattern amid the COVID-19 pandemic, saw sales increase 25.5 percent on the back of robust demand for health and leisure products, cosmetics and household goods, the company said in a statement. In addition, sales of scooters and motorbikes surged during the back-to-school season, it said. Online shopping contributed 94.8 percent to last month’s total revenue, the company said. First-quarter revenue totaled NT$22.94 billion, up 24.9 percent from a year earlier and the second-highest quarterly revenue on record, it said.
ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai ups EV investment
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) has poured more funds into an electric vehicle (EV) subsidiary, as it continues to explore business opportunities in this market. In a regulatory filing on Friday, Hon Hai said it has invested an additional US$39 million in Foxconn EV Technology Inc, taking about a 17 percent stake in the subsidiary. The new investments would allow Hon Hai to control a 100 percent stake in Foxconn EV Technology, which has served as a major investor, signing an agreement with Ohio-based pickup maker Lordstown Motors Corp to develop the Endurance electric pickup model. Separately, Hon Hai said its Longhua production site in Shenzhen in China’s Guangdong Province has obtained UL 2799 “Gold Level Certification” for its “Zero Waste to Landfill” efforts, making the complex “the world’s first comprehensive eco-park.”
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
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