EQUITIES
TAEIX closes higher
The TAIEX closed higher yesterday even as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remained weak amid lingering concerns over inventory adjustments in the global IC industry. Investors tended to exit large-cap tech stocks such as TSMC while buying into old economy stocks, including machinery companies involved in renewable energy development and companies holding large amounts of carbon credits, keeping the main board in positive territory. The TAIEX closed up 57.30 points, or 0.37 percent, at 15,636.48, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Turnover totaled NT$224.355 billion (US$7.29 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$3.40 billion in shares on the main board, exchange data showed.
EQUITIES
Foreigners sell NT$38.13bn
Foreign institutional investors last week sold a net NT$38.13 billion of local shares after selling a net NT$30.30 billion the previous week, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. The top three shares sold by foreign investors last week were AUO Corp (友達), China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) and Innolux Corp (群創), while the top three bought were Wistron Corp (緯創), Unimicron Technology Corp (欣興電子) and First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), the exchange said. As of Friday, foreign investors had bought NT$171.03 billion of local shares since the beginning of this year, while the market capitalization of the shares held by foreign investors was NT$19.51 trillion, or 39.93 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
SHIPBUILDING
Jong Shyn wins defense bid
Jong Shyn Shipbuilding Co (中信造船) has won a Ministry of National Defense tender to build prototypes of two light frigates, the company said on Monday. It secured the contracts, valued at NT$9.05 billion, after two rounds of bidding and a review by the navy to build an anti-air light frigate and an anti-submarine light frigate, Jong Shyn said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing. Local media reported that the firm would start building the prototypes in the first half of this year, with delivery scheduled for October 2026. Jong Shyn, which is listed on the Emerging Stock Board, posted consolidated sales of NT$305 million in March, up 2.46 percent from a year earlier. In the first quarter of this year, its cumulative sales were NT$789 million, down 28.24 percent from a year earlier.
SEMICONDUCTORS
GlobalWafers’ net profit falls
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said gross margin fell to 40.6 percent in the first quarter, down 2.1 percentage points from the previous quarter, due to rising electricity and depreciation costs. While first-quarter revenue rose 1.2 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$18.62 billion on the back of robust demand in the automotive and industrial sectors, net profit fell 13.7 percent to NT$5 billion, or earnings per share of NT$11.49, the company said. Its 8-inch and 12-inch wafer plants operated at a higher utilization rate of at least 95 percent in the first quarter, and it could remain above 90 percent in the second quarter despite some expected headwinds, it said. The company said it is cautiously optimistic about the market outlook for the second half of the year. Its board of directors proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$9.5 per share for the second half of last year, with a total payout of NT$4.13 billion.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$7.5 billion into its US subsidiary, the Department of Investment Review said in a statement. The department approved TSMC’s application of investing in TSMC Arizona Corp, which is engaged in the manufacturing, sales, testing and design of IC and other semiconductor devices, it said. The latest capital injection follows a US$5 billion investment for TSMC Arizona approved in June. The chipmaker has broken ground on two advanced fabs in Arizona with aggregated investments approved by the department totaling US$24 billion thus far. According to TSMC, the first Arizona
The lethal hack of Hezbollah’s Asian-branded pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ path, revealing a murky market for older technologies where buyers might have few assurances about what they are getting. While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly managed, that is not the case for older electronics from Asia where counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product, analysts and consultants say. The response from the companies at the center of the booby-trapped gadgets that killed 37
FRIENDLY TAKEOVER: While Qualcomm Inc’s proposal to buy some or all of Intel raises the prospect of other competitors, Broadcom Inc is staying on the sidelines Qualcomm Inc has approached Intel Corp to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals. California-based Qualcomm proposed a friendly takeover for Intel in recent days, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The proposal is for all of the chipmaker, although Qualcomm has not ruled out buying some parts of Intel and selling off others. It is uncertain whether the initial approach would lead to an agreement and any deal is likely to come under close antitrust scrutiny
SECURITY CONCERNS: The proposed ban on Chinese autonomous vehicle software and hardware would go into effect with the 2027 and 2030 model years respectively The US Department of Commerce today is expected to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on US roads due to national security concerns, two sources said. US President Joe Biden’s administration has raised concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on US drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the Internet and navigation systems. The proposed regulation would ban the import and sale of vehicles from China with key communications or automated driving system software or hardware, said the two sources, who declined to be identified because the