EQUITIES
Semiconductors boost TAIEX
The TAIEX closed higher yesterday as large-cap semiconductor shares attracted buying sparked by an overnight rally in semiconductor shares on US markets caused by an acquisition deal. However, turnover remained thin, as market sentiment was hurt by concerns over possible technical resistance ahead of 13,000 points. Many investors were also waiting for comments on the US economy from the US Federal Reserve during a two-day policymaking meeting that was due to start later in the day, dealers said. The TAIEX ended up 57.83 points, or 0.45 percent, at 12,845.65, on turnover of NT$185.726 billion (US$6.32 billion). Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$5.90 billion of shares on the main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
CURRENCY
New Taiwan dollar soars
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rose to its highest level against the US dollar in almost two-and-a-half years in the wake of continued fund inflows, dealers said. The local currency ended up NT$0.106, or 0.36 percent, at NT$29.380 against the US dollar, central bank data showed. The closing level was the highest since April 19, 2018, when the NT dollar ended at NT$29.340 against the greenback. A strong Chinese yuan also encouraged traders to pocket more of other regional currencies, including the NT dollar, dealers said. Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry chairman Alex Ko (柯拔希) urged the central bank to take action to keep the currency weak, or Taiwanese machinery exporters would lose their global competitive edge. The central bank is to hold its quarterly policymaking meeting tomorrow and the market has been awaiting comments on the foreign exchange market from Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍).
SEMICONDUCTORS
Local alliance formed
Local semiconductor equipment suppliers C Sung Manufacturing Ltd (志聖工業), Gallant Precision Machining Co (均豪精密) and Gallant Micro Machining Co (均華精密) yesterday said that they have formed an alliance to provide one-stop shop services and integrated solutions for customers. The alliance has set up its first office in Kaohsiung to cope with growing demand from chip testers and packagers, Gallant Precision said in a joint statement. The alliance also plans to build a new laboratory, or a new platform, to speed up product qualification, the statement said.
BUSINESS
Fewer firms plan bonuses
Fewer companies in Taiwan are willing to pay their employees mid-autumn bonuses this year, because of the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a survey released yesterday showed. Only 55.5 percent of employers said that they would distribute bonuses, compared with 60.2 percent last year, the online job bank yes123 said, citing its online polls. Among the companies planning to pay bonuses, the average amount would be 5 percent less from last year, at about NT$1,460, because of the adverse economic effects of the pandemic, the job bank said. Of those planning to issue bonuses, 35.9 percent would pay NT$800 to NT$1,200, 22.4 percent would pay NT$500 to NT$800 and 10 percent NT$1,500 to NT$2,000, the poll found. The survey was conducted from Aug. 26 to Tuesday last week and collected 933 valid responses.
SEMICONDUCTOR SERVICES: A company executive said that Taiwanese firms must think about how to participate in global supply chains and lift their competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it expects to launch its first multifunctional service center in Pingtung County in the middle of 2027, in a bid to foster a resilient high-tech facility construction ecosystem. TSMC broached the idea of creating a center two or three years ago when it started building new manufacturing capacity in the US and Japan, the company said. The center, dubbed an “ecosystem park,” would assist local manufacturing facility construction partners to upgrade their capabilities and secure more deals from other global chipmakers such as Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and Infineon Technologies AG, TSMC said. It
EXPORT GROWTH: The AI boom has shortened chip cycles to just one year, putting pressure on chipmakers to accelerate development and expand packaging capacity Developing a localized supply chain for advanced packaging equipment is critical for keeping pace with customers’ increasingly shrinking time-to-market cycles for new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday. Spurred on by the AI revolution, customers are accelerating product upgrades to nearly every year, compared with the two to three-year development cadence in the past, TSMC vice president of advanced packaging technology and service Jun He (何軍) said at a 3D IC Global Summit organized by SEMI in Taipei. These shortened cycles put heavy pressure on chipmakers, as the entire process — from chip design to mass
People walk past advertising for a Syensqo chip at the Semicon Taiwan exhibition in Taipei yesterday.
NO BREAKTHROUGH? More substantial ‘deliverables,’ such as tariff reductions, would likely be saved for a meeting between Trump and Xi later this year, a trade expert said China launched two probes targeting the US semiconductor sector on Saturday ahead of talks between the two nations in Spain this week on trade, national security and the ownership of social media platform TikTok. China’s Ministry of Commerce announced an anti-dumping investigation into certain analog integrated circuits (ICs) imported from the US. The investigation is to target some commodity interface ICs and gate driver ICs, which are commonly made by US companies such as Texas Instruments Inc and ON Semiconductor Corp. The ministry also announced an anti-discrimination probe into US measures against China’s chip sector. US measures such as export curbs and tariffs
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