UK rail mission visits Taiwan
A trade development and investment promotion organization from the UK is expected to visit Taipei tomorrow for two days to scope for possible railway projects that British companies can become involved in, a statement from the British Trade and Cultural Office said yesterday.
The three-member delegation is expected to meet with local rail industry representatives and with British firms currently working on rail projects here.
"There are a number of railway projects coming up in Taiwan in the next five to 10 years," the statement said. "It would be a good opportunity for British railway companies to co-operate with Taiwanese companies and create win-win solutions for leading railway projects in Taiwan."
Panama trade official arrives
Panama's deputy minister for international trade, Meliton Arrocha, arrived in Taipei on Sunday for the final round of negotiations on a free-trade agreement, an official at the Bureau of Foreign Trade said yesterday.
The official surnamed Sun said the trade negotiation is slated from yesterday to Sunday, focusing on market access of industrial goods, rules of origin and services.
If both sides can fully reach agreement on all issues, Panama may sign the trade pact with Taiwan in late August, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday. Sun dismissed the report.
Compal mulls profit plan
Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), the world's second-largest maker of notebook computers, may say that second-quarter profit rose more than 10 percent because it boosted sales of higher-margin cell phones.
Net income probably increased to NT$2.1 billion (US$61 million) in the three months ended June 30 from NT$1.9 billion a year earlier, analysts said.
Taipei-based Compal, which makes computers for Dell Computer Corp, Hewlett-Packard Co and Toshiba Corp, is making more mobile phones to shore up declining profitability in the laptop business. The company increased handset sales even as the SARS epidemic kept shoppers in China at home in the second quarter.
"Compal had a higher percentage of hand-held products" in the second quarter, said Steven Tseng, an analyst with Yuanta Core Pacific Securities (元大京華證券).
Shares sale upsets commission
The Securities and Futures Commission expressed "annoyance" over the number of shares sold overseas by First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) last month that ended up in the hands of offshore units of Taiwanese companies rather than foreign investors, the International Financing Review reported, citing an unidentified SFC official.
Taiwan's fourth-biggest bank by assets sold US$515 million of shares in the form of global depositary receipts, or GDRs, attracting the offshore units of Taiwanese financial institutions such as Capital Securities (群益證券) Fubon Securities (富邦證券) and Sinopac Securities (建華證券), the weekly magazine reported. An offshoot of Yuanta Securities (元大證券) bought US$135 million of the receipts, or about one-quarter of the offer.
"The practice [of Yuanta and other firms] defeated the purpose of raising funds via overseas issuance" an unidentified SFC official was quoted as saying by the magazine. "One of the purposes of overseas issuance is to expand the investor base of a domestic entity by admitting foreign investors."
NT dollar gains on greenback
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.08 to close at NT$34.43 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$394.5 million.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) halted shipments to a customer this month after its semiconductors were sent to China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為), potentially breaching US sanctions, a government official said. The US slapped sanctions on Huawei in 2019, and expanded them the following year, over fears its technology could be used for Beijing’s espionage operations. The restrictions prevent TSMC from selling semiconductors to Huawei. However, TSMC discovered on Oct. 11 that chips made for a “specific customer” had ended up with the Chinese company, a Taiwanese official with knowledge of the incident said on the condition of anonymity. TSMC “immediately activated
US SANCTIONS: The Taiwan tech giant has ended all shipments to China-based Sophgo Technologies after one of their chips was discovered in a Huawei phone Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) suspended shipments to China-based chip designer Sophgo Technologies Ltd (算能科技) after a chip it made was found on a Huawei Technologies Co (華為) artificial intelligence (AI) processor, according to two people familiar with the matter. Sophgo had ordered chips from TSMC that matched the one found on Huawei’s Ascend 910B, the people said. Huawei is restricted from buying the technology to protect US national security. Reuters could not determine how the chip ended up on the Huawei product. Sophgo said in a statement on its Web site yesterday that it was in compliance with all laws
TECH TITANS: Nvidia briefly overtook Apple again on Friday after becoming the world’s largest company for a short period in June, as Microsoft fell to third place Nvidia Corp dethroned Apple Inc as the world’s most valuable company on Friday following a record-setting rally in the stock, powered by insatiable demand for its specialized artificial intelligence (AI) chips. Nvidia’s stock market value briefly touched US$3.53 trillion, slightly above Apple’s US$3.52 trillion, London Stock Exchange Group data showed. Nvidia ended the day up 0.8 percent, with a market value of US$3.47 trillion, while Apple’s shares rose 0.4 percent, valuing the iPhone maker at US$3.52 trillion. In June, Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable company before it was overtaken by Microsoft Corp and Apple. The tech trio’s market capitalizations have been
Shares of Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) surged more than 53 percent on its debut on the Taiwan stock exchange yesterday. Starlux shares closed up 53.75 percent at NT$30.75 from its initial public offering price of NT$20 after retreating in late trading from a 60 percent rise. China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) rose 0.90 percent to close at NT$22.35, while EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) gained 0.40 percent to close at NT$37.70. In Taiwan, a newly listed stock is allowed to go beyond the 10 percent maximum increase or decline in its first five trading sessions. At the listing ceremony, Starlux chairman Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒) said
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