EQUITIES
Foreigners buy NT$29.96bn
Foreign investors last week bought a net NT$29.96 billion (US$1.08 billion) of local shares after buying a net NT$48.5 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday. The top three shares foreign investors bought last week were Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) and Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), while the top three sold were United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), Innolux Corp (群創) and Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子), the exchange said. As of Friday, the market cap of shares held by foreign investors was NT$24.61 trillion, or 43.79 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
MANUFACTURING
Value Valves sales hit high
Value Valves Co (捷流閥業) yesterday reported record revenue of NT$2.4 billion for last year, up 0.59 percent from the previous year, after posting better-than-expected sales for last month — up 8.11 percent year-on-year to NT$207.29 million. The company, which manufactures a range of valves with facilities in Taiwan and China, attributed the strong results to rising demand for valves in the petrochemical, shipping and electronics industries. The company said rising orders for cryogenic valves, which are used in liquefied natural gas carriers, also contributed to revenue growth.
MANUFACTURING
Iron Force sales fall 1.87%
Iron Force Industrial Co (劍麟), which makes clothes hangers, seat belts, airbag inflators and safety parts, yesterday reported revenue of NT$293.56 million for last month, down 1.87 percent from a month earlier and 20.05 percent from a year earlier. The company said that clothes hanger sales fell due to fewer working days last month, but auto parts sales increased due to seasonal factors. Total revenue for last year was NT$3.64 billion, up 5.64 percent from 2020, with auto parts accounting for 80 percent of sales and clothes hangers making up the remainder, it said.
MACHINERY
Bright Sheland sales rise
Bright Sheland International Co (旭然國際), which makes filtration products and separation systems under the Filtrafine brand, yesterday reported revenue of NT$58.37 million for last month, up 37.34 percent from a year earlier and posting a monthly record for a second consecutive month. The company said demand for filtering facilities continued to rise as clients in the semiconductor and electronics sectors increased capital expenditure and built new plants. The relocation of plants by clients seeking to diversify risks also helped boost sales, it said. Revenue in the fourth quarter rose 42.91 percent to NT$163.57 million from a year earlier, while revenue for the full year was NT$590.4 million, up 15.96 percent from 2020.
BANKING
TCB Prague office approved
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has approved Taiwan Cooperative Bank’s (TCB, 合作金庫銀行) application to set up a representative office in Prague, making it the second Taiwanese bank to have a presence in the Czech capital. The representative office would help the bank seek business opportunities and enhance its service in the European market, the commission said in a statement on Friday. The commission approved a similar request by the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China (中國輸出入銀行) on Nov. 11. Taiwan Cooperative Bank has representative offices in Beijing and Yangon, Myanmar, as well as 13 overseas branches.
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
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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