EQUITIES
Foreigners buy NT$5bn
Foreign investors last week bought a net NT$5.01 billion (US$157.22 million) of local shares after selling a net NT$33.45 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$1.24 trillion of local shares since the beginning of the year, it said. The top three shares bought by foreign investors last week were Taiwan Business Bank (臺灣中小企業銀行), United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) and China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), while the top three shares sold by foreign investors were E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控), Taiwan Cement Corp (台灣水泥) and Walsin Lihwa Corp (華新麗華). As of Friday, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$16.96 trillion, or 39.7 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
AUTO PARTS
China sales boost Hiroca
Automotive interior parts supplier Hiroca Holdings Ltd (廣華控股) yesterday reported that revenue last month grew 2.98 percent month-on-month and 6.02 percent year-on-year to NT$635.75 million, as the company benefited from rising vehicle sales in China due to the country’s preferential purchase policies and promotion campaigns launched by major auto brands there. Despite headwinds such as interest rate hikes, exchange-rate changes and COVID-19 lockdowns in China, the company’s third-quarter revenue totaled NT$1.96 billion, compared with NT$1.61 billion in the second quarter and NT$1.74 billion a year earlier. In the first three quarters of the year, cumulative revenue amounted to NT$5.68 billion, up 11.87 percent from NT$5.08 billion during the same period last year, Hiroca said. The company said it would continue to pursue flexible production and work with customers to develop more lightweight and environmentally friendly products.
SEMICONDUCTORS
MSSCorps revenue rises
MSSCorps Co (汎銓科技), which specializes in material analysis in the semiconductor sector, yesterday reported that revenue for last quarter rose 9.3 percent quarterly and 21.8 percent annually to NT$458.51 million, meeting market expectations. Last quarter’s sales were the highest for the same period in the company’s history, it said. From January to last month, cumulative revenue totaled NT$1.25 billion, up 20.1 percent from NT$1.04 billion a year earlier. The company said it remains optimistic about its business outlook this quarter, as governments around the world are supporting homegrown semiconductor manufacturing, while global chipmakers continue to expand, which would lead to business opportunities for material analysis firms, it added.
ELECTRONICS
Delta posts record revenue
Power management solution provider Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) on Monday reported that sales last month set a new record, with analysts attributing the growth to solid demand from electric vehicle suppliers. The company posted NT$36.93 billion in consolidated sales, up 5 percent from a month earlier and up 35 percent from a year earlier, marking the fourth consecutive month the company has reported record monthly revenue. In the third quarter, Delta generated a quarterly high of NT$106.25 billion in sales, up 18 percent from a quarter earlier. In the first nine months of the year, its cumulative sales rose 21 percent from a year earlier to NT$278.78 billion, the company said.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
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