EQUITIES
Investors bank on US rally
The TAIEX moved sharply higher to close above 18,100 points yesterday, as upward momentum on the main board continued from the previous session after an overnight rally on US markets. Buying rotated to the bellwether electronics sector as investors took their cues from a robust showing by tech stocks in the US, while select old economy stocks continued to post gains on the back of growing raw material prices worldwide. The TAIEX closed up 185.20 points, or 1.03 percent, at 18,151.76, after moving between 18,039.23 and 18,168.60. Turnover totaled NT$294.063 billion (US$10.57 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$10.41 billion of shares on the main board. Institutional investors were adjusting their portfolios, because global index provider MSCI Inc is scheduled to release the results of its quarterly index review early this morning, analysts said.
COMPUTERS
Advantech revenue rises
Industrial computer manufacturer Advantech Co (研華) yesterday reported revenue of NT$5.38 billion for last month, a 19.36 percent increase from NT$4,511 million a year earlier. Last month’s revenue was the third-highest in the company’s history, Advantech said in a statement. In terms of regions, Europe, North America and emerging markets were the best performers last month, posting annual revenue growth of 37 percent, 29 percent and 41 percent respectively, the company said. Among its business units, its service-Internet of Things (IoT) unit and applied computing unit had the most growth momentum, with annual sales growth of 74 percent and 58 percent respectively, it said. However, its cloud-IoT unit performed relatively poorly with a double-digit decline in sales from a year earlier due to component shortages and last year’s relatively high comparison base, it said. The company’s orders to shipments ratio reached 1.45 last month, it added.
LABOR
Furloughed workers drop
The number of workers on formal furlough programs in Taiwan has over the past week dropped below 13,000, but mainly because certain business sectors are still in the process of reporting their data, the Ministry of Labor said on Tuesday. The number of workers who agreed to take unpaid leave fell to 12,659 as of Monday, down 344 from the previous report released on Jan. 24, data compiled by the ministry showed. Meanwhile, the number of companies with furlough programs in place fell by 113 from a week earlier to 2,019.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Hon Hai sets Thai EV target
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) has set a goal of producing 150,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in Thailand by 2030 through a joint venture that was launched there on Monday. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, said in a statement that Horizon Plus Co Ltd, the joint venture set up with state-owned oil supplier PTT Public Co, opened on Monday and would have an initial annual capacity of 50,000 units. That capacity is expected to rise to 150,000 units by 2030 to meet anticipated rising demand in Thailand and other Southeast Asian markets, the company said. Hon Hai in September last year signed a deal with PTT to establish the joint venture. The two companies said at the time that they would invest up to US$2 billion in the new company through subsidiaries, with Hon Hai holding a 40 percent stake and PTT the remaining 60 percent.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
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