AIRLINES
CAL sells, leases five jets
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) yesterday said it sold five Airbus SE A330-300 jets to Irish leasing company Altitude Aircraft Cal I Ltd for between US$30 million and US$33 million each and immediately leased them back to maintain its capacity. CAL reported a loss of about NT$90 million (US$2.9 million) from the transaction, as the disposal gain of US$156 million was less than the five jets’ asset value of NT$4.942 billion. CAL said the number of its passenger airplanes remains at 70.
SOLAR INDUSTRY
TSE raises NT$455 million
TSE Corp (元晶), which makes solar modules and helps clients install solar panels, has raised NT$455 million via a rights issue, it said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. The company plans to use the proceeds to repay bank loans. Shareholders subscribed to the newly issued 65 million common shares at NT$7 per share, the filing said. The price represented a 12.5 percent discount to the stock’s closing price of NT$8 in Taipei trading yesterday.
TECHNOLOGY
Asustek, institute sign deal
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology to collaborate on various digital applications, such as cloud-based storage, an artificial intelligence (AI) development platform and Internet of Things technologies. Asustek last year worked with the National Applied Research Laboratories in the development of the supercomputer Taiwania. The company aims to expand the supercomputer’s AI and big data capabilities by the end of this year.
MACROECONOMICS
Wages post stable growth
The average regular wage rose 2.42 percent from a year earlier to NT$41,927 in July after a 2.33 percent year-on-year increase in June, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics reported on Wednesday. The average earned income, which includes regular salary plus bonuses, overtime pay and other irregular income, also rose 2.53 percent to NT$53,017, the agency said. In the first seven months of the year, the average regular wage climbed 2.32 percent to NT$41,702, while the average earned income grew 1.81 percent to NT$56,360, it said.
ENERGY
Orsted to sell green bonds
Danish energy developer Orsted A/S on Wednesday said that it is planning to issue New Taiwan dollar-denominated green bonds on the local market by the end of the year. The company said in a statement that it is in talks with a consortium — led by BNP Paribas SA and Deutsche Bank AG — that includes CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行) and Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行) to underwrite the sale. It did not disclose the financial terms for the planned issue. Funds raised from the bond sale would be injected into Taiwan’s offshore wind power industry, Orsted said.
AUTOMOTIVE
Iron Force sales rise 9.14%
Iron Force Industrial Co (劍麟), which supplies seat belts, airbag inflators and safety parts, on Tuesday reported that cumulative revenue in the first eight months of the year increased 9.14 percent to NT$3.06 billion due to rising shipments of automotive safety system parts, led by precision tubes for pretensioner seat belts. The company said in a news release that order visibility and factory utilization rates have improved this year, as major vehicle brands increase adoption of safety parts.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
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
‘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
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