EQUITIES
TAIEX rises on AI optimism
The TAIEX yesterday moved sharply higher on buying sparked by gains on Wall Street on Friday and ongoing optimism over the development of artificial intelligence (AI) applications, dealers said. While semiconductor stocks took a pause after a recent solid upturn, buying shifted to contract PC makers which also roll out AI servers, they said. The electronics index rose 1.17 percent, and the computer subindex gained 4.03 percent, while the semiconductor subindex edged up 0.52 percent, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. The TAIEX closed up 168.66 points, or 1 percent, at 17,084.20. Turnover on the main board totaled NT$332.014 billion (US$10.67 billion), with domestic proprietary traders buying a net NT$13.2 billion of shares, while investment trust companies sold a net NT$798.27 million and foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$1.73 billion in shares, TWSE data showed.
EQUITIES
Foreigners sell NT$60.4bn
Foreign institutional investors last week sold a net NT$60.4 billion of local shares after buying a net NT$1.93 billion the previous week, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. The top three shares sold by foreign investors last week were Walsin Lihwa Corp (華新麗華), Innolux Corp (群創) and AUO Corp (友達), while the top three bought were Tatung Co (大同), Unizyx Holding Corp (合勤) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶). As of Friday last week, foreign investors had bought NT$374.11 billion of local shares since the beginning of this year, while the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$21.67 trillion, or 40.85 percent of total market capitalization, the exchange said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC pay hits NT$2.33m
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) median pay worldwide reached about NT$2.33 million last year, while the average compensation received by its production workers exceeded NT$1 million, a report released recently by the company showed. The average monthly income of TSMC employees last year was about four times Taiwan’s minimum monthly wage of NT$25,250, the company’s sustainability report said. It recruited 12,442 employees worldwide last year, including 7,817 for new high-quality jobs, providing competitive wages and incentives to maintain its talent pool, it said. On the back of improving finances, TSMC’s total compensation to employees worldwide grew NT$74.5 billion, or 45 percent, from a year earlier, to NT$239.5 billion last year, it said. Last year, the turnover rate of new hires was 15 percent, and the total turnover rate was 6.7 percent, the report said.
BANKING
E.Sun plans 150 voice ATMs
E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) plans to add 150 automatic teller machines (ATMs) featuring voice guidance capabilities for the visually impaired by the end of this year after launching 99 similar machines last year. A special keypad on the machines enables users with visual impairments to locate numbers while making transactions, the bank said. “It is our goal that all of our bank branches have at least one ATM for the visually impaired by the end of this year,” E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) president Joseph Huang (黃男州) said on Wednesday. The move is part of the bank’s efforts to build an inclusive financial service for clients, he said.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
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