CPC lowers fuel prices
Domestic gasoline and diesel prices will be lowered by NT$0.3 and NT$0.5 per liter respectively effective today, state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and its private rival, Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), said yesterday.
The refineries’ 98-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$26.8, 95-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$25.3, 92-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$24.6 and diesel will cost NT$21.7 per liter.
VIA board approves reduction
Local chipset maker VIA Technologies Inc (威盛電子) said its board approved a capital reduction proposal yesterday, cutting its capital by 60 percent to NT$5.17 billion from the current NT$12.92 billion (US$384 million).
VIA reported an NT$40.2 billion loss, or NT$3.11 per share, last year.
The company said it planned to buy back and cancel 774.9 million shares on the open market and expects the move to increase net value per share to NT$11.36.
The proposal will be subject to shareholders’ approval at its annual general meeting on June 19, the company said.
Faraday announces income
Local chip designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原科技) said yesterday its net income reached NT$59 million (US$1.75 million), or NT$0.17 in earnings per share, in the first quarter of the year, on revenue of NT$928 million.
“Reviewing the revenue by areas, the growth rate in China’s market has remarkably grown to 36 percent. From the application standpoint, revenues from multimedia and displays rose most significantly,” Faraday said in a statement.
The company’s gross margin was 46.7 percent in the first quarter, which Faraday said mainly benefited from the adjustment of its application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) product mix.
Looking to the second quarter, the Hsinchu-based company said ASIC business would keep up its growth momentum in communication, multimedia and display.
Airline staff take leave
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空), Hong Kong’s largest airline, said about 70 percent of its staff agreed to take unpaid leave.
About 14,000 employees at the carrier and its Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Ltd (港龍航空) unit signed the agreement, Cathay Pacific said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The airline will extend the deadline for agreeing to take unpaid leave by 10 days to May 10, it said.
Employees were offered as much as four weeks leave, depending on seniority.
Uni-President to issue shares
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), Taiwan’s largest maker of packaged juice and instant noodles, said its board approved a sale plan of up to 250 million new shares, a company filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday.
The company said it planned to raise the funds either domestically or though an issue of Global Depositary Receipts.
The share sale needs to be approved at the company’s general shareholders meeting on June 29, it said.
LCD maker to pay dividend
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), Taiwan’s largest liquid-crystal-display maker, proposed to pay a cash dividend of NT$0.30 per share and a stock dividend of 3 percent for last year, the company said in an exchange filing yesterday.
NT dollar continues rise
The New Taiwan dollar continued gaining ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.109 to close at NT$33.711. A total of US$798 million changed hands during the day’s trading.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
Cryptocurrencies gave a lukewarm reception to US President Donald Trump’s first policy moves on digital assets, notching small gains after he commissioned a report on regulation and a crypto reserve. Bitcoin has been broadly steady since Trump took office on Monday and was trading at about US$105,000 yesterday as some of the euphoria around a hoped-for revolution in cryptocurrency regulation ebbed. Smaller cryptocurrency ether has likewise had a fairly steady week, although was up 5 percent in the Asia day to US$3,420. Bitcoin had been one of the most spectacular “Trump trades” in financial markets, gaining 50 percent to break above US$100,000 and
RSS