SMARTPHONES
Silitech to buy back shares
Handset keypad supplier Silitech Technology Corp (閎暉) yesterday said its board decided to implement a stock buyback plan beginning yesterday and running through July 21. Shares closed 1.32 percent higher at NT$23 yesterday before the company unveiled its buyback plan. The board has agreed to buy back up to 10 million shares, or 5.28 percent of total outstanding shares, at a price of NT$16.1 to NT$35.45 per share, Silitech said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company plans to spend up to NT$2.74 billion (US$89.7 million) on the buyback and will transfer the shares to employees in a bid to “boost employee morale,” the filing said.
RETAIL
Breeze Group founder dies
Upscale mall operator Breeze Group (微風集團) yesterday confirmed its founder and chairman Paul Liao (廖偉志) has died at the age of 67. Breeze executive director Henry Liao (廖鎮漢) said in a letter to company employees that his father died at home on Wednesday, attended by close family members. The group, which runs several Breeze Center (微風廣場) malls, said that Paul Liao died of an illness, but did not disclose further details.
INVESTMENT FUNDS
FSC’s Wang to chair TIGF
The semi-official Taiwan Insurance Guaranty Fund (TIGF, 保險安定基金) yesterday said its board decided to invite Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairwoman Jennifer Wang (王儷玲) to head the fund after former chairman Chu Yun-peng (朱雲鵬) completed his tenure on Thursday. The fund expects that, under Wang’s leadership, Cathay Life Insurance Co Ltd (國泰人壽) will be on track to complete its recent purchases of insolvent Global Life Insurance Co (國寶人壽) and Singfor Life Insurance Co (幸福人壽). Wang is also to help facilitate communications between the fund, the financial regulator and the local insurance industry, according to a TIGF statement.
BANKING
Dome exposure ‘manageable’
The Taipei City Government’s order to Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) to shut down construction of the Taipei Dome this week is expected to create a negative sentiment for the financial sector in the near term, but potential earnings overhang for banks with credit exposure to the land developer is still manageable, JPMorgan Securities Ltd said in a note yesterday. JPMorgan said the syndicated loan of NT$15.4 billion from 11 banks led by Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行) is collateralized by the Taipei Dome itself and related surface rights. The brokerage said such credit exposure is, in general, less than 0.1 percent of the total loan, while a 100 percent provision is expected to affect no more than 10 percent of creditor banks’ earnings this year.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Industry continues to grow
The book-to-bill ratio for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers dropped to 1.04 last month as growth in billings surpassed bookings, semiconductor industry association SEMI said yesterday. This marked the fourth month this year that the ratio stood above one, indicating the industry is still growing. The three-month average of worldwide bookings expanded 12.9 percent to US$1.57 billion last month, from US$1.39 billion in March, SEMI’s data showed. The three-month average of worldwide billings jumped 19.3 percent to US$1.51 billion last month from US$1.27 billion in the prior month.
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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