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.
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
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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