TSMC board passes capex plan
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s top contract chipmaker, yesterday said its board of directors has approved a capital appropriation of US$3.05 billion, mainly for expansion of advanced capacity.
The board also approved a proposal to inject US$2 billion into wholly owned subsidiary TSMC Global Ltd to reduce its foreign-exchange hedging costs.
In addition, the board gave the go-ahead to the promotion of general counsel Sylvia Fan (方淑華) and director of human resources Connie Ma (馬慧凡) as company vice presidents.
Acer unveils newest laptop
PC vendor Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday unveiled the world’s first Chromebook laptop powered by a mobile chipset from Nvidia Corp to expand its line of Web-centric computers.
The Acer Chromebook 13 will start shipping later this month and will be available in European, North American and Asia-Pacific markets with a starting price of US$279, the company said in a press release.
The company posted its latest sales results on Monday, with consolidated revenue declining 31.29 percent sequentially to NT$25.11 billion (US$835.3 million) last month due to inventory adjustment. On an annual basis, consolidated sales last month were down 12.05 percent. Cumulative sales in the first seven months of the year totaled NT$183.19 billion, down 12.71 percent from a year earlier, the company said.
Formosa Plastics to sell shares
Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC, 台塑), the nation’s largest producer of polyvinyl chloride, said on Monday that it plans to sell about 42.5 million shares of Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC, 台塑化) by the end of this year.
Based on Formosa Petrochemical’s closing price of NT$73.7 on Monday in Taipei, Formosa Plastics would generate an income of NT$3.13 billion from selling its holding in the nation’s only listed oil refiner.
The company’s announcement followed those made by Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台化), which produces aromatics and styrenics, and Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), the nation’s largest plastics maker. Together, they plan to sell a total of 1.5 percent of Formosa Petrochemical’s shares by the end of this year, reducing their shareholding in the company to about 75 percent.
LCY stock stabilizing: dealers
Shares of LCY Chemical Corp (李長榮化學) showed signs of stabilizing yesterday after plunging for seven straight sessions because of its potential liability for the gas pipeline explosions in Greater Kaohsiung on July 31 and Aug. 1.
The stock fell 0.66 percent to close at NT$15.05 in Taipei trading. Before yesterday, it had fallen by the maximum daily limit of 7 percent for seven consecutive sessions, driving the stock’s value down almost 40 percent since the blasts.
The stock is likely to consolidate until the chemical company’s legal and financial responsibilities from the blasts become clearer, dealers said.
Ministry picks TAITRA head
The Ministry of Economic Affairs on Monday appointed Francis Liang (梁國新), an adviser to the Cabinet, to serve as chairman of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), replacing Wang Chih-kang (王志剛), who has led the trade promotion body for the past six years.
The appointment of the 63-year-old Liang, a former deputy minister of economic affairs, will be discussed at TAITRA’s next board meeting, the ministry said in a statement.
Wang, 72, “has completed his mission,” the statement said, praising him for lifting the image of Taiwanese products.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
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