UMC slips to nine-year low
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world's second-largest maker of chips for other companies, slid to a nine-year low yesterday after UBS AG downgraded the shares to "neutral," citing a seasonal slowdown for the company.
UMC shares fell 4.9 percent to NT$21.30 at the close of trade, their lowest since Oct. 6, 1998.
"We expect slowing momentum, given the high base in Q3 ... and seasonal slowdown," Taipei-based analysts William Dong, Robert Lea and Samson Hung wrote in a report dated Thursday.
UMC's plan to issue stock options to employees from next year also has the potential to dilute earnings, the analysts wrote.
The potential dilution of the 500 million stock options is about 3.8 percent in the next six years, UMC said in an e-mail.
UBS cut its rating on UMC from "buy" and lowered its 12-month price target to NT$24 from NT$28.60.
Next step for Nicaraguan FTA
Taiwan and Nicaragua exchanged instruments of rectification on Thursday for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) that was signed last year to pave the way for its implementation this Jan. 1.
Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) and visiting Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos Lopez exchanged the documents in a ceremony at the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
After the FTA takes effect next year, Nicaragua will allow tariff-free entry of 3,374 Taiwanese products, which is about 51.1 percent of Taiwanese exports to Nicaragua, while Taiwan will lift tariffs on the entry of 5,797 Nicaraguan products, or about 65.6 percent of Nicaraguan exports, including beef and coffee.
China's reserves keep growing
China's foreign exchange reserves, already the world's largest, surpassed US$1.43 trillion at the end of last month, the central bank said yesterday.
The figure was up 45.1 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Special zone status for Hainan
China has approved the establishment of a special export zone for the island province of Hainan in a bid to boost trade, especially with Southeast Asia, state media said yesterday.
The Yangpu Bonded Port Area will enjoy tax breaks and other preferential policies similar to zones in Shanghai, Tianjin and Dalian, the Shanghai Securities News said.
The Yangpu Port, approved by the State Council, will be built in three phases and eventually cover an area of 9.2km2, with an annual traffic of 70 million tonnes, the report said.
Cathay Life to add Beijing outlet
Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), the nation's largest life insurer, said yesterday its Chinese venture based in Shanghai has been approved to open a new branch in Beijing.
Cathay Life said the joint venture with China Eastern Air Holding Co (中國東方航空) obtained approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission yesterday for the establishment of the Beijing branch, a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
Meanwhile, Cathay Life and affiliated Cathay Century Insurance Co (國泰世紀產險) announced yesterday that they had also received China's go-ahead to set up a property insurance company there.
The new property insurance company, which will be launched with 200 million yuan (US$26.6 million) from Cathay Life and Cathay Century each, will be the first Taiwanese property insurer operating in China.
Cathay Life broke into China's insurance market in 2005.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
RSS