EQUITIES
TAIEX rises due to TSMC
The TAIEX closed higher yesterday as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) rose for a third consecutive session. Dealers attributed the main board’s rally from an initial low to investors’ positive response to the US markets rebounding from earlier overnight losses. The TAIEX closed up 87.19 points, or 0.48 percent, at 18,375.40. Turnover totaled NT$284.890 billion (US$10.3 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$12.75 billion of shares on the main board. TSMC rose 1.38 percent to close at NT$660. Due to its heavy weighting of about 30 percent of the main board, TSMC’s gains contributed 75 points to the TAIEX’s rise.
STEELMAKERS
Feng Hsin revenue up 52%
Steelmaker Feng Hsin Steel Co (豐興) yesterday posted NT$553 million in pretax income for last month, surging 52 percent from NT$364 million the previous year, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. That represented a monthly increase of 11.49 percent from NT$496 million, the company said. For the full year last year, pretax income jumped 56 percent to NT$5.04 billion, from NT$3.24 billion in 2020, it said. Consolidated revenue totaled NT$38.36 billion last year, up 40.52 percent from NT$27.3 billion a year earlier, it added.
ELECTRONICS
Sercomm station approved
Telecom equipment supplier Sercomm Corp (中磊) said its new 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave) small cell base station has obtained certification from the National Communications Commission, paving the way the product to be shipped to local telecoms. Sercomm beat local rivals in securing the certification, it said on Tuesday. Last year, the company obtained similar certification from the Federal Communications Commission for its 5G mmWave small cell base station, helping it to tap into the US market.
CHINA
Lending lower than forecast
New bank lending last month fell more than expected from the previous month, but lending for the whole of last year set a record, as the central bank maintained policy support to cushion the slowing economy. Banks last month extended 1.13 trillion yuan (US$177.51 billion) in new yuan loans, down from 1.27 trillion yuan in November and short of analysts’ expectations, data released yesterday by the People’s Bank of China showed. However, new bank lending hit a record 19.95 trillion yuan for the year, up 1.6 percent from 19.63 trillion yuan in 2020, the previous record.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Asian currencies could dip
Goldman Sachs Group Inc has warned that the New Taiwan dollar, South Korean won and Malaysian ringgit could weaken if growth stocks continue to slide. The underperformance of growth stocks coincides with weaker tech-centric emerging market currencies when risk sentiment is less favorable, Karen Reichgott Fishman, Goldman Sachs’ New York-based strategist, wrote in a note. The outlook for tighter monetary policy in the US and higher US Treasury yields have been weighing on technology shares globally, prompting a rotation from growth to value stocks. Asian currencies are under pressure as prospects of quicker rate hikes in the US bolster the greenback. The ringgit is Asia’s second worst-performing currency so far this year, with a loss of 0.4 percent, while the won is down 0.1 percent and the NT dollar is up 0.1 percent.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
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