EQUITIES
Foreigners sell NT$47.97bn
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$47.97 billion (US$1.73 billion) of local shares after buying a net NT$42.43 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had bought NT$24.42 billion of local shares from the beginning of this year, it said. Last week, the top three shares that foreign investors sold were AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), Innolux Corp (群創) and Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), while the top three bought were Wistron Corp (緯創), China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) and Gold Circuit Electronics Ltd (金像電子), the exchange said. As of Friday, the market cap of shares held by foreign investors was NT$24.37 trillion, or 43.93 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Firms tighten virus rules
Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) yesterday tightened its workplace rules again due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in Taoyuan and Hsinchu County, asking employees to work from home and halt all unessential domestic and overseas business travel. United Microelectronics Co (聯電) also switched to having staff work from home. Separately, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) said its subsidiary Ingrasys Technology Inc (鴻佰科技) would suspend operations in Taoyuan’s Farglory Free Trade Zone (遠雄自由貿易港區) after recording another 17 COVID-19 cases on Sunday. The incident would not have any significant effect on the company’s business, Hon Hai said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
STEELMAKERS
China Steel profits jump
China Steel Corp (中鋼) yesterday reported that its preliminary pretax profit for the past year surged 2,949 percent annually to NT$84.41 billion, from NT$2.77 billion, while its revenue rose 49 percent annually to NT$468.33 billion. The figures came as the company reported that its pretax profit for last month fell 24 percent from a month earlier to NT$5.96 billion, with revenue dropping 9 percent from November to NT$40.99 billion. The company said it sold a total of 9.56 million tonnes of carbon steel in the past year, of which 70 percent was sold domestically, as it benefited from a recovery in the steel market. As international steel prices have recently shown signs of stabilizing, market demand is expected to increase after the Lunar New Year holiday and the peak season is likely to begin in the second quarter, it said.
EQUITIES
CTBC to launch new ETF
CTBC Battery and Energy Storage Technology exchange-traded fund (ETF) beneficiary certificates are to debut on the main board today, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday. The new ETF is issued by CTBC Investments Co (中國信託投信) and its underlying index is the ICE Factset Battery and Energy Storage Technology Index, the exchange said in a news release. The ICE index is compiled and maintained by ICE Data Indices LLC to track the performance of companies that manufacture batteries, as well as related metal and chemical materials, technologies and storage equipment in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and the US, the exchange said. The index is comprised of 30 stocks, it said. Including the new ETF, there are 131 listed ETFs, tracking domestic and international exchanges’ equity, bond, commodity and other investment tools to meet investors’ diverse appetites and asset allocation purposes, the exchange said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
GREAT SUCCESS: Republican Senator Todd Young expressed surprise at Trump’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running US lawmakers who helped secure billions of dollars in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to revoke the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, signaling that any repeal effort in the US Congress would fall short. US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the law, on Wednesday said that Trump’s demand would fail, while a top Republican proponent, US Senator Todd Young, expressed surprise at the president’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running. The CHIPS Act is “essential for America leading the world in tech, leading the world in AI [artificial
REACTIONS: While most analysts were positive about TSMC’s investment, one said the US expansion could disrupt the company’s supply-demand balance Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) new US$100 billion investment in the US would exert a positive effect on the chipmaker’s revenue in the medium term on the back of booming artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from US chip designers, an International Data Corp (IDC) analyst said yesterday. “This is good for TSMC in terms of business expansion, as its major clients for advanced chips are US chip designers,” IDC senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠瑋) said by telephone yesterday. “Besides, those US companies all consider supply chain resilience a business imperative,” Zeng said. That meant local supply would
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