EQUITIES
Shih vows re-energization
The Taiwan Stock Exchange’s (TWSE) newly appointed chairman, Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉), yesterday said he would work to re-energize local capital markets and further enhance the average price-to-earnings ratio of stocks listed on the main bourse and the over-the-counter exchange. Shih made the remarks during a handover ceremony in Taipei, where he received the official seal from his predecessor, Lee Sush-der (李述德). Shih, formerly a minister without portfolio, said one of his goals is to raise the stock market’s average daily turnover to between NT$100 billion and NT$120 billion (US$3.1 billion and US$3.7 billion). The TWSE also aims to expand ties with its foreign peers, he said.
EQUITIES
TWSE signs memorandum
The Taiwan Stock Exchange has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bursa Malaysia Bhd that commits the two sides to cooperating more closely. It was the second memorandum inked by the TWSE and Bursa Malaysia to strengthen their strategic partnership. The first was signed in 1999 and covered trading information exchanges.
EQUITIES
TPEX to focus on small firms
Former Securities and Futures Bureau deputy director-general Chang Li-chen (張麗真) yesterday took over as acting chairman and president of the Taipei Exchange (TPEX), which is in charge of the nation’s over-the-counter bourse and serves bond trading in Taiwan. Taking over from her predecessor, Lee Chi-hsien (李啟賢), Chang said at a handover ceremony that the TPEX would make efforts to become the cradle of small and medium-sized enterprises, the key driving force of the local bonds market and the advocate of innovative industries. The exchange would also develop platforms for creative products, Chang added.
E-COMMERCE
Momo.com to open facility
Momo.com Inc (富邦媒), an online, TV and catalogue shopping subsidiary of Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), is to open a new automated logistics center in Taoyuan in the second quarter of next year, the firm said in a statement yesterday. This is to be the company’s first wholly owned logistics center, Momo.com said, adding that it would help reduce delivery times and warehouse rental costs. The company said it plans to expand its operational scope by investing in two more logistics centers in central and southern Taiwan in the next few years. In the first five months of the year, cumulative sales totaled NT$11.44 billion, up by 9.2 percent from the same period last year, company data showed.
ELECTRONICS
Sampo reports rise in sales
Home appliance maker Sampo Corp (聲寶) yesterday said sales for last month would total about NT$1.1 billion, up from NT$1.08 billion in May, due to the summer peak season for the home appliances and consumer electronics industry. Second-quarter sales are likely to be higher than the first quarter’s NT$2.65 billion and could increase from a year ago, Sampo spokesman Peter Chiang (江全田) told an investors’ conference in Taipei. As Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) has acquired Japan’s Sharp Corp and is to be fully in charge of sales and marketing of Sharp products in Taiwan, Sampo plans to end its joint venture with the Japanese firm, Sharp Corp Taiwan (夏寶), if it gains shareholders’ approval in a meeting on Tuesday next week, Chiang said.
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
GREAT SUCCESS: Republican Senator Todd Young expressed surprise at Trump’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running US lawmakers who helped secure billions of dollars in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to revoke the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, signaling that any repeal effort in the US Congress would fall short. US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the law, on Wednesday said that Trump’s demand would fail, while a top Republican proponent, US Senator Todd Young, expressed surprise at the president’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running. The CHIPS Act is “essential for America leading the world in tech, leading the world in AI [artificial
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
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