ELECTRONICS
Asustek sets ‘ZenTalk’ date
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday said it is to convene its annual “ZenTalk” conference in Taipei on Aug. 26 to showcase its upcoming flagship handset, the ZenFone 4, and its augmented reality (AR) smartphone, the ZenFone AR, to consumers. It is the third consecutive year the company has hosted the conference in the city, as part of the firm’s strategy to promote its smartphones and create a closer relationship with its consumers. Asustek said a “high-ranking” executive would personally introduce the features of the new products and dine with the participants. Asustek has not yet sent out invitations to the ZenFone 4 product launch after the company reportedly postponed it from the end of this month to the middle of next month.
TECHNOLOGY
Kinsus net income plunges
Kinsus Interconnect Technology Corp (景碩科技), a silicon substrate manufacturing arm of Pegatron Corp (和碩), yesterday reported net income of NT$63.39 million (US$2.09 million) for last quarter, down from the NT$603.32 million it made in the same period last year. Earnings per share were NT$0.14, compared with last year’s NT$1.35. The result brought the company’s combined net profit for the first half to NT$199.94 million, down from NT$1.11 billion last year, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company has not yet set a date for its investors’ conference, at which it plans to announce its outlook for the remainder of this year.
ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai in India talks
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is in talks with a major industrial group in India to introduce low-end mobile phones in the nation, according to an Indian media report. The Economic Times reported over the weekend that Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), has entered into negotiations with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) to make low-priced mobile phones under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative. The report said that Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom subsidiary of RIL, is planning to launch dual SIM mobile phones costing between US$23 and US$25. The report said that the mobile phones would be equipped with 2G and 4G SIM card slots and are expected to use chips designed by China’s Spreadtrum Communications Inc (展訊).
SHIPBUILDERS
CSBC Corp delivers vessel
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday said that TS Lines Co (德翔海運) has taken delivery of a 1,800 twenty-foot equivalent unit Bangkok-max vessel that it was commissioned to design and build. Despite a downturn in the global cargo shipping sector, TS Lines is committed to updating its fleet and the company has three more of the vessels on order, CSBC Corp said. The new vessel is 25 percent more fuel efficient than vessels built 10 years ago, the shipbuilder said.
ECONOMY
M1B grows 4.43 percent
M1B money supply, which refers to cash and cash equivalents, grew 4.43 percent year-on-year last month, faster than the broader gauge M2 — M1B, savings deposits, time savings deposits and foreign currency deposits — which grew 3.71 percent, the central bank said yesterday. As M1B is often linked to liquidity available for stock investments, the trend might reflect an upturn in investor confidence, as the two measures displayed a so-called “golden cross,” the bank said.
A wave of stop-loss selling and panic selling hit Taiwan's stock market at its opening today, with the weighted index plunging 2,086 points — a drop of more than 9.7 percent — marking the largest intraday point and percentage loss on record. The index bottomed out at 19,212.02, while futures were locked limit-down, with more than 1,000 stocks hitting their daily drop limit. Three heavyweight stocks — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn, 鴻海精密) and MediaTek (聯發科) — hit their limit-down prices as soon as the market opened, falling to NT$848 (US$25.54), NT$138.5 and NT$1,295 respectively. TSMC's
SELL-OFF: Investors expect tariff-driven volatility as the local boarse reopens today, while analysts say government support and solid fundamentals would steady sentiment Local investors are bracing for a sharp market downturn today as the nation’s financial markets resume trading following a two-day closure for national holidays before the weekend, with sentiment rattled by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement. Trump’s unveiling of new “reciprocal tariffs” on Wednesday triggered a sell-off in global markets, with the FTSE Taiwan Index Futures — a benchmark for Taiwanese equities traded in Singapore — tumbling 9.2 percent over the past two sessions. Meanwhile, the American depositary receipts (ADRs) of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the TAIEX, plunged 13.8 percent in
In a small town in Paraguay, a showdown is brewing between traditional producers of yerba mate, a bitter herbal tea popular across South America, and miners of a shinier treasure: gold. A rush for the precious metal is pitting mate growers and indigenous groups against the expanding operations of small-scale miners who, until recently, were their neighbors, not nemeses. “They [the miners] have destroyed everything... The canals, springs, swamps,” said Vidal Britez, president of the Yerba Mate Producers’ Association of the town of Paso Yobai, about 210km east of capital Asuncion. “You can see the pollution from the dead fish.
ASML Holding NV, the sole producer of the most advanced machines used in semiconductor manufacturing, said geopolitical tensions are harming innovation a day after US President Donald Trump levied massive tariffs that promise to disrupt trade flows across the entire world. “Our industry has been built basically on the ability of people to work together, to innovate together,” ASML chief executive officer Christophe Fouquet said in a recorded message at a Thursday industry event in the Netherlands. Export controls and increasing geopolitical tensions challenge that collaboration, he said, without specifically addressing the new US tariffs. Tech executives in the EU, which is
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