Nan Ya Plastics Corp’s (南亞塑膠) board of directors approved a proposed a cash dividend of NT$7.5, more than 200 percent higher than the previous year, the company said on Friday in a stock exchange filing.
If approved by shareholders on June 10, the proposal would be 212.5 percent higher than the NT$2.4 dividend Nan Ya paid the previous year.
With Nan Ya’s stock price closing at NT$89.8 on Friday, the proposed cash dividend translates into a dividend yield of 8.35 percent.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Government
That would be higher than the interest rates on fixed-term deposits offered by local banks and marks the highest among Formosa Plastics Group’s (台塑集團) four major units, which also include Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化纖).
Nan Ya, which manufactures plastic, fiber, electronic and petrochemical products, announced the better-than-expected dividend payout as the company’s net profit last year surged 216.21 percent year-on-year to NT$81.295 billion (US$2.86 billion), or earnings per share of NT$10.25, thanks to robust revenue from its chemical business and continued contribution from DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技).
Nan Ya’s operating profit soared 281.72 percent year-on-year to NT$81 billion, while revenue increased 50.6 percent to NT$411.67 billion last year, the company said.
The company’s three major affiliates earlier announced their cash dividend plans, with Formosa Plastics on Thursday saying it would distribute NT$8.2 per share, while Formosa Chemicals on Wednesday said it would pay out NT$4.8 per share and Formosa Petrochemical on Tuesday said it proposed to pay NT$3.8 per share.
Their planned dividends represent yields of 7.7 percent for Formosa Plastics, 6.06 percent for Formosa Chemicals and 3.97 percent for Formosa Petrochemical, based on their respective closing stock price of NT$106.5, NT$79.2 and NT$95.7 on Friday.
Based on the four major units’ dividend plans, Nan Ya would pay NT$59.48 billion in cash dividends to shareholders this year, Formosa Plastics would distribute NT$52.199 billion, Formosa Chemicals would offer NT$28.13 billion and Formosa Petrochemical would spend NT$36.198 billion on cash dividends, their regulatory filings showed.
Nan Ya said in a separate exchange filing on Friday that its board also approved a NT$950 million investment plan to add equipment for producing blood bags and leukocyte reduction filter systems at its plant in New Taipei City’s Shulin District (樹林).
The plan reflects an expected trend of comprehensive depletion of leukocytes from blood, Nan Ya said, adding that Taiwan imports all of its blood bags, as it does not have the ability to make them.
AI AIM: The chipmaker wants joint research and development programs with the Czech Republic, and the government is considering supporting investments in a Czech location Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is planning to build more plants in Europe with a focus on the market for artificial intelligence (AI) chips as the chipmaker expands its global footprint, a senior Taiwanese official said. “They have started construction of the first fab in Dresden; they are already planning the next few fabs in the future for different market sectors as well,” National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) told Bloomberg TV in an interview that aired yesterday. Wu did not specify a timeline for TSMC’s further expansion in Europe. TSMC in an e-mailed statement said it
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
COUNTRY-BASED: Setting ceilings on sales of the technology would tighten limits that originally targeted China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence amid security risks US officials have discussed capping sales of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Nvidia Corp and other American companies on a country-specific basis, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would limit some nations’ AI capabilities. The new approach would set a ceiling on export licenses for some countries in the interest of national security, according to the people, who described the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden focused on Persian Gulf countries that have a growing appetite for AI data centers and the deep pockets to fund them, the people