EQUITIES
TAIEX closes slightly lower
The TAIEX yesterday closed slightly lower as government-led funds were believed to have intervened to support the local main board amid ongoing global volatility. Despite the aid, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) fell below NT$400 for the first time in more than two years as the local tech sector remained affected by the US Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hike cycle and Washington’s new ban on certain chip exports to China. The TAIEX was down 24.79 points, or 0.19 percent, at 13,081.24, as the electronics sector was up by 0.29 percent and the semiconductor sub-index fell by 0.82 percent. Turnover on the main board totaled NT$181.556 billion (US$5.7 billion), with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$16.64 billion of shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
LOGISTICS
Dimerco to buy back shares
Freight forwarder Dimerco Express Corp (中菲行) yesterday said it plans to launch a share buyback program for the first time in the company’s history to protect shareholders’ interests. The company is to repurchase 3 million common shares for NT$317 million at the most, it said in a regulatory filing after its board of directors approved the proposal. Dimerco proposes to repurchase shares at NT$45.3 to NT$104.3 per share, the filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed. It is to buy back shares over the next two months, beginning tomorrow and ending on Dec. 13, it added. The company posted revenue of NT$3.08 billion last month, down 10.34 percent month-on-month and 19.8 percent year-on-year, due to falling demand. The company’s shares closed 2.73 percent lower at NT$60.50, down 62 percent from a high of NT$160 in June last year, exchange data showed.
ELECTRONICS
MediaTek posts record sales
Smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Tuesday recorded its second-highest monthly sales for last month, with analysts attributing the performance to phone launches by customers. The company posted NT$56.57 billion in consolidated sales, up 26.56 percent from a month earlier and 18.09 percent from a year earlier, trailing only March’s NT$59.18 billion. Consolidated sales totaled NT$142.16 billion in the third quarter, within the company’s forecast range of NT$141.7 billion to NT$154.2 billion. However, third-quarter revenues fell 8.71 percent compared with the second quarter due to some customers adjusting their inventories. In the first nine months, consolidated sales totaled NT$440.6 billion, up 20.79 percent from a year earlier, MediaTek said, adding that it expects full-year sales to grow 17 to 19 percent this year from last year, a downgrade from its previous estimate of a 20 percent annual increase due to inventory adjustments among its clients.
ELECTRONICS
Pixel 7 launches today
Google’s newest smartphones — the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro — and its first smart watch, the Pixel Watch, are to go on sale in Taiwan today, Google Taiwan vice president of hardware Elmer Peng (彭昱鈞) said last week. Peng said the addition of the Pixel Watch to the line of smartphones and Pixel Buds earphones has created a more comprehensive product portfolio. Prices for the 6.3-inch Pixel 7, 6.7-inch Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel Watch are to start from NT$18,990, NT$26,990 and NT$10,990 respectively, Google said.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
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