EQUITIES
TAIEX follows US markets
The TAIEX closed higher yesterday on the back of buying spurred by Friday’s gains on US markets, which rose following better-than-expected jobs data for last month. The bellwether electronics sector led yesterday’s upturn on the main board, while buying was also seen among non-tech stocks, in particular in the electric engineering industry, giving additional support to the broader market. However, with the TAIEX exceeding 15,700 points, some investors shifted to the sell side to lock in earlier gains, while large-cap semiconductor stocks continued to move above their previous closing levels, helping the main board sustain its upturn by the end of the session. The TAIEX closed up 73.50 points, or 0.47 percent, at 15,699.57. Turnover on the main board totaled NT$214.79 billion (US$6.99 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$5.89 billion of shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
EQUITIES
Foreigners net sellers
Foreign institutional investors last week sold a net NT$9.33 billion of local shares after selling a net NT$38.13 billion the previous week, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. The top three shares sold by foreign investors last week were Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) and Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子), while the top three bought were Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) and Ta Ya Electric Wire & Cable Co (大亞電線電纜), the exchange said. As of Friday, foreign investors had bought NT$161.71 billion of local shares since the beginning of this year, while the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$19.54 trillion, or 39.86 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
FINANCE
Jko founder to keep reins
Jko Group (街口集團) founder Kevin Hu (胡亦嘉) yesterday said he would not relinquish control of Jko Fintech Co (街口金融科技), after food and beverage maker Taisun Enterprise Co (泰山企業) last week offered to buy a 40.4 percent stake in the subsidiary for NT$3.6 billion. Hu said Taisun would secure two director seats on Jko Fintech’s five-member board if the deal obtains regulatory approval, while Jko Group would hold the remaining three seats. Hu said the company would use the funds to raise the working capital of its electronic payment business and for expansion. Taisun’s majority shareholder, Long Bon International Co (龍邦), which has been pushing for a board reshuffle since last year, questioned the company’s decision on Saturday to invest in Jko Fintech. Hu said his company has no intention to get involved in Taisun’s management disputes.
COMPONENTS
Yageo revenue little changed
Yageo Corp (國巨), the world’s third-largest supplier of multilayer ceramic capacitors, yesterday said revenue reached NT$9.01 billion last month, little changed from March, attributable to continuing inventory adjustments on the supply chain. On an annual basis, revenue contracted 11.2 percent from NT$10.15 billion. During the first four months of this year, revenue dropped 12.8 percent to NT$35.11 billion from NT$10.27 billion a year ealier, the company said in a statement.
ASML Holding NV’s new advanced chip machines have a daunting price tag, said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), one of the Dutch company’s biggest clients. “The cost is very high,” TSMC senior vice president Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, referring to ASML’s latest system known as high-NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV). “I like the high-NA EUV’s capability, but I don’t like the sticker price,” Zhang said. ASML’s new chip machine can imprint semiconductors with lines that are just 8 nanometers thick — 1.7 times smaller than the previous generation. The machines cost 350 million euros (US$378 million)
Apple Inc has closed in on an agreement with OpenAI to use the start-up’s technology on the iPhone, part of a broader push to bring artificial intelligence (AI) features to its devices, people familiar with the matter said. The two sides have been finalizing terms for a pact to use ChatGPT features in Apple’s iOS 18, the next iPhone operating system, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. Apple also has held talks with Alphabet Inc’s Google about licensing its Gemini chatbot. Those discussions have not led to an agreement, but are ongoing. An OpenAI
‘FULL SUPPORT’: Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura said he hopes more companies would settle in the prefecture to create an area similar to Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park The newly elected governor of Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture said he is ready to ensure wide-ranging support to woo Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to build its third Japanese chip factory there. Concerns of groundwater shortages when TSMC’s two plants begin operations in the prefecture’s Kikuyo have spurred discussions about the possibility of tapping unused dam water, Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura said in an interview on Saturday. While Kimura said talks about a third plant have yet to occur, Bloomberg had reported TSMC is already considering its third Japanese fab — also in Kumamoto — which would make more advanced chips. “We are
EXPLOSION: A driver who was transporting waste material from the site was hit by a blunt object after an uncontrolled pressure release and thrown 6m from the truck Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday there was no damage to its facilities after an incident at its Arizona factory construction site where a waste disposal truck driver was transported to hospital. Firefighters responded to an explosion on Wednesday afternoon at the TSMC plant in Phoenix, the Arizona Republic reported, citing the local fire department. Cesar Anguiano-Guitron, 41, was transporting waste material from the project site and stopped to inspect the tank when he was made aware of a potential problem, a police report seen by Bloomberg News showed. Following an “uncontrolled pressure release,” he was hit by a blunt