EQUITIES
Foreigners sell more shares
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$1.9 billion (US$63.7 million) of local shares after selling a net NT$40.07 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$954.98 billion of local shares since the beginning of the year, the exchange said. The top three shares sold by foreign investors last week were Innolux Corp (群創光電), China Steel Corp (中鋼) and China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), while the top three shares bought by foreign investors were EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), AUO Corp (友達光電) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the exchange said. As of Friday, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$18.07 trillion, or 40.11 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
ELECTRONICS
Ennoconn revenue soars
Ennoconn Corp (樺漢科技), an industrial computer subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday said its revenue for last month, the second quarter and the first six months of the year all were the highest levels for the same period in the company’s history. Consolidated revenue was NT$10.39 billion last month, up 23.3 percent month-on-month and 22.9 percent year-on-year, Ennoconn said in a statement. Second-quarter revenue grew 11.4 percent quarter-on-quarter and 18.3 percent year-on-year to NT$26.98 billion, driven by the company’s design and systems integration segments, it said. Coupled with stable growth in its brand business, revenue in the first half of the year rose 19.1 percent year-on-year to NT$51.2 billion, the company said, adding that it is optimistic about its outlook for the second half.
BANKING
Multilingual ATM target set
The Financial Supervisory Commission has set a target for local banks to raise the number of multilingual ATMs to account for 50 percent of their total machines by the end of this year. The commission has also demanded that banks increase their number of bilingual branches in the domestic market, it said on Thursday last week. While the commission did not set a specific target on the number of bilingual branches, it expects the number to grow from 479 currently, it said. The anticipated increases in the number of multilingual ATMs and bilingual branches are part of the commission’s efforts to promote more inclusive financial services, which also include the setup of digital savings accounts and the use of mobile payments, it added.
PROPERTY
Pan told to go bankrupt
Distressed property tycoon Pan Sutong (潘蘇通) has been told by the Hong Kong High Court to go bankrupt, marking another blow to the former billionaire. The court ordered Pan to unwind his holding company, Silver Starlight Ltd, after he and the firm failed to pay creditors including China Citic Bank Corp (中信銀行) HK$8 billion (US$1 billion at the current exchange rate) that was due in 2019, a court filing showed on Friday. A representative for Pan yesterday said that he is appealing the order. Once among Asia’s wealthiest people, Pan fell from grace after shares of Goldin Financial Holdings Ltd (高銀金融) plunged amid a property collapse, erasing most of his US$27 billion fortune. Last month, he resigned as chairman and executive director of Goldin Financial after the sale of the firm’s flagship skyscraper collapsed.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
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