Taiwanese shares slide
Share prices closed lower yesterday, with the TAIEX falling 173.41 points, or 2.23 percent, to close at 7,598.72.
The market opened lower at the day’s high of 7,697.79 and fell to a low of 7,574.06 before rebounding slightly at the end of the session. Turnover totaled NT$86.595 billion (US$2.624 billion).
All eight major stock categories lost ground, with textile issues dropping the most at 3.01 percent. Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net sellers of NT$10.168 billion in shares.
Quanta eyes cloud computing
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), the world’s largest notebook contract manufacturer, said yesterday that it expects cloud computing technology to start making a contribution to the company’s revenue in 2012.
“Development of cloud computing is a long-term effort for Quanta. We are in an early stage of development,” a company official said. “Although we do not expect the particular technology to make any significant share in the company’s revenue any time soon, the initial contribution is expected to be seen in 2012.”
She said Quanta is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in developing cloud computing.
“We are still looking for further partners for new technology development in an attempt to build a feasible business model,” she said.
Barry Lam (林百里), chairman of Quanta, said Sunday that his company will try its best to develop its profile in cloud computing to boost its international standing.
He said Quanta aims to rank among the largest 300 enterprises in the world by boosting its sales to top NT$1 trillion this year, compared with NT$750 billion recorded last year.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs says the government will invest a total of NT$24 billion in cloud computing technology from this year through 2014.
The private sector is expected to invest NT$100 billion into developing the new technology and to create 50,000 jobs and NT$1 trillion in production value in the five-year period, the ministry said.
LCD supplies low: AUO
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the country’s second-largest maker of LCDs, has received more orders than it can fill in the second half of this year.
Demand from clients were for a wide range of panel products, including TVs, computer monitors and notebook computers, Hsiao Ya-wen (蕭雅文), a spokeswoman for the Hsinchu-based firm said by telephone, citing chairman Lee Kun-yao (李焜耀).
Shin Kong sells land to Fubon
Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金) said in an exchange filing yesterday it sold property in Taipei City’s Neihu District (南港) to Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) for NT$4.7 billion and expects to book a profit of NT$1.98 billion on the sale. Fubon reported the same transaction in a separate filing.
In related news, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on its Web site yesterday that the government will enforce a buyback of land in Taipei that isn’t used within three years of purchase.
The buyback will be made at the original sale price and applies to state-owned non-public land above 100 ping (330.6m²) in size, the statement said.
ANZ seeks Asian expansion
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd wants to set up private-banking operations in Taiwan, Indonesia and India, said Bill Foo, vice-chairman of South and Southeast Asia.
Speaking at a press event in Singapore yesterday, Foo said the bank plans to hire about 500 people in Singapore in the next year.
The New Taiwan dollar is on the verge of overtaking the yuan as Asia’s best carry-trade target given its lower risk of interest-rate and currency volatility. A strategy of borrowing the New Taiwan dollar to invest in higher-yielding alternatives has generated the second-highest return over the past month among Asian currencies behind the yuan, based on the Sharpe ratio that measures risk-adjusted relative returns. The New Taiwan dollar may soon replace its Chinese peer as the region’s favored carry trade tool, analysts say, citing Beijing’s efforts to support the yuan that can create wild swings in borrowing costs. In contrast,
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
VERTICAL INTEGRATION: The US fabless company’s acquisition of the data center manufacturer would not affect market competition, the Fair Trade Commission said The Fair Trade Commission has approved Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s (AMD) bid to fully acquire ZT International Group Inc for US$4.9 billion, saying it would not hamper market competition. As AMD is a fabless company that designs central processing units (CPUs) used in consumer electronics and servers, while ZT is a data center manufacturer, the vertical integration would not affect market competition, the commission said in a statement yesterday. ZT counts hyperscalers such as Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Google among its major clients and plays a minor role in deciding the specifications of data centers, given the strong bargaining power of
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
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