EQUITIES
TAIEX moves lower
The TAIEX moved lower yesterday after surging a session earlier as investors took a break after a pullback on Wall Street overnight in the wake of Tuesday’s indecisive midterm elections in the US. The bellwether electronics sector led the downturn throughout the session amid lingering concerns over a hawkish US Federal Reserve and its interest rate hike cycle to fight inflation ahead of the release of last month’s inflation data. Selling in the tech sector spread to other sectors, with petrochemical stocks down 0.47 percent and financial stocks falling 0.91 percent. The TAIEX closed down 135.05 points, or 0.99 percent, at 13,503.76. Turnover on the main board totaled NT$190.852 billion (US$5.98 billion), with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$1.69 billion of shares yesterday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
CHIPMAKERS
TSMC sales edge up
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted NT$210.27 billion in consolidated sales for last month, up 1 percent from the previous month and an increase of 56.3 percent from a year earlier, signaling that the world’s largest contract chipmaker continues to weather a broader slowdown in demand for electronics. Last month’s figure was the third consecutive month that consolidated sales exceeded NT$200 billion and was second only to August’s NT$218.13 billion, company data showed. Year-to-date sales at TSMC, which benefits as the New Taiwan dollar depreciates, have risen 44 percent to NT$1.85 trillion. At an investors’ conference last month, TSMC predicted that fourth-quarter sales would range from US$19.9 billion to US$20.7 billion.
SEMICONDUCTORS
ASE starts construction
ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s leading provider of semiconductor assembly and test services, yesterday held a groundbreaking ceremony for construction of a new facility in Penang, Malaysia. The new ASE Malaysia facility is in the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone, ASE said in a statement. The company is to complete construction of two new plants in the new facility in 2025, which are expected to create 2,700 jobs, ASE said. The company plans to invest US$300 million over five years to expand production, purchase advanced equipment and train more engineers, it said. The new facility would focus on the production of high-demand packaging products, including copper clip and image sensors, it said.
IOT SOLUTIONS
Sysgration profit hits record
Sysgration Ltd (系統電子), which provides industrial Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, automotive electronics and energy storage systems, yesterday reported record profit for last quarter and said it remains optimistic about its outlook this quarter, with plans to set up a new plant in the US. Third-quarter net profit rose 217.54 percent year-on-year to NT$107 million, or earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.69, up 213.64 percent, the company said in a statement. Revenue increased 31.15 percent to NT$890 million, it said. In the first three quarters of the year, net profit rose 430.85 percent to NT$267 million, EPS jumped 418.18 percent to NT$1.71 and revenue surged 40 percent to NT$2.48 billion, it said. Sysgration said it plans to spend US$15 million to build a new plant in the US to increase its market share and create new sources of revenue.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
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