Twenty-seven firms launched initial public offerings (IPO) in the first six months of this year, raising a combined NT$28.85 billion (US$970.53 million), a significant advance from 14 deals amassing NT$14 billion in the same period last year, Ernst & Young Taiwan said yesterday.
The pickup was linked to easing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and came even though the TAIEX has had a rough time due to selling among foreign portfolio managers to cope with global monetary tightening, Ernst & Young said.
Technology and biotechnology firms were among the debuts, as Taiwan is home to the world’s largest electronics suppliers and the government is shoring up the biotechnology industry, the consultancy said.
Image sensor provider VisEra Technologies Co (采鈺), a spinoff of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) that had its debut yesterday, topped the survey of newly listed Taiwan Stock Exchange firms by raising NT$6.74 billion, or 29.31 percent of the total, it said.
VisEra shares yesterday closed at NT$334, a 15.17 percent rise, bucking the TAIEX’s 2.72 percent fall.
UPI Semiconductor Corp (力智科技), which provides high power density semiconductor solutions, was second on the list with a 22.8 percent share of the total, Ernst & Young said.
Technology firms accounted for 33 percent of new players on the Taipei Exchange, the local bourse for companies with small or medium capitalizations, it said.
Ernst & Young said that it remains guardedly optimistic about the IPO market, with the TAIEX likely to consolidate at about 15,000 points in the near term amid turbid economic times.
Nearly 30 companies have debuted on the Taipei Exchange since the start of last month, led by biotechnology players, despite a local outbreak of COVID-19, Ernst & Young said, adding that favorable legislation last year would support the development and operations of such firms.
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume
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