EQUITIES
Foreigners continue to buy
Foreign institutional investors last week bought a net NT$64.94 billion (US$2.11 billion) of local shares after buying a net NT$5.99 billion the previous week, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. The top three shares bought by foreign investors last week were China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), while the top three sold were Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), Wistron Corp (緯創) and Acer Inc (宏碁), the exchange said. As of Friday last week, foreign investors had bought NT$432.59 billion of local shares since the beginning of this year, while the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$22.29 trillion, or 41.13 percent of total market capitalization, it said. Yesterday, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$4.43 billion of shares, the exchange said.
TECHNOLOGY
Huawei shuts flagship store
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) has closed its flagship experience store in Taipei’s Syntrend Creative Park (三創園區), leaving only one outlet in Taiwan, as the Chinese tech giant adapts its marketing strategy. The Syntrend branch, which was next to Guanghua Digital Plaza in the city’s Bade District (八德), closed its doors on Sunday. After the branch’s closure, Huawei’s products and repair services would still be available at some chain retailers and on e-commerce platforms, said Xunwei Technologies Co (訊崴), which distributes Huawei’s products in Taiwan. At the peak of its presence in Taiwan in 2019, Huawei had 13 experience stores and three customer service centers, but it has since scaled back its business operations. The company has also come under intense scrutiny in Taiwan due to national security concerns.
BANKING
Mega Bank plans Thai boost
State-run Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行) has approved plans to increase the capital of its subsidiary in Thailand by 100 million shares, or 1 billion baht (US$28,752,569), to boost its capital and competitiveness. The banking arm of Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) said the cash injection would raise the capital of its Thai subsidiary to 5 billion baht. The Thai subsidiary has operated for 76 years and owns four branches in different parts of Thailand, which serve retail customers and corporate clients, the bank said last week. Meanwhile, Mega Bank said a spike in overseas travel among Taiwanese has boosted its credit card circulation and spending this year, especially for its signature credit card, which offers an unlimited 3 percent rebate on overseas spending.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Delta to buy German firm
Power management solution provider Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) has agreed to acquire TB&C Group, a German provider of automotive hybrid components, for 142 million euros (US$155 million), the Taiwanese firm said on Thursday. The acquisition of TB&C, which develops hybrid technologies for mechanical components applied in automotive, industrial and medical applications, is expected to bolster its electric vehicle (EV) business portfolio, Delta said. The transaction would enhance the firm’s EV battery management system capabilities by integrating TB&C’s technologies with Delta’s automotive component product lines, it said. The acquisition is also expected to leverage both companies’ research and development and manufacturing resources to accelerate Delta’s overall EV business expansion, the company said.
TECH BOOST: New TSMC wafer fabs in Arizona are to dramatically improve US advanced chip production, a report by market research firm TrendForce said With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) pouring large funds into Arizona, the US is expected to see an improvement in its status to become the second-largest maker of advanced semiconductors in 2027, Taipei-based market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report last week. TrendForce estimates the US would account for a 21 percent share in the global advanced integrated circuit (IC) production market by 2027, sharply up from the current 9 percent, as TSMC is investing US$65 billion to build three wafer fabs in Arizona, the report said. TrendForce defined the advanced chipmaking processes as the 7-nanometer process or more
Who would not want a social media audience that grows without new content? During the three years she paused production of her short do-it-yourself (DIY) farmer’s lifestyle videos, Chinese vlogger Li Ziqi (李子柒), 34, has seen her YouTube subscribers increase to 20.2 million from about 14 million. While YouTube is banned in China, her fan base there — although not the size of YouTube’s MrBeast, who has 330 million subscribers — is close to 100 million across the country’s social media platforms Douyin (抖音), Sina Weibo (新浪微博) and Xiaohongshu (小紅書). When Li finally released new videos last week — ending what has
OPEN SCIENCE: International collaboration on math and science will persevere even if the incoming Trump administration imposes strict controls, Nvidia’s CEO said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said on Saturday that global cooperation in technology would continue even if the incoming US administration imposes stricter export controls on advanced computing products. US president-elect Donald Trump, in his first term in office, imposed restrictions on the sale of US technology to China citing national security — a policy continued under US President Joe Biden. The curbs forced Nvidia, the world’s leading maker of chips used for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, to change its product lineup in China. The US chipmaking giant last week reported record-high quarterly revenue on the back of strong AI chip
Qualcomm Inc’s interest in pursuing an acquisition of Intel Corp has cooled, people familiar with the matter said, upending what would have likely been one of the largest technology deals of all time. The complexities associated with acquiring all of Intel has made a deal less attractive to Qualcomm, said some of the people, asking not to be identified discussing confidential matters. It is always possible Qualcomm looks at pieces of Intel instead or rekindles its interest later, they added. Representatives for Qualcomm and Intel declined to comment. Qualcomm made a preliminary approach to Intel on a possible takeover, Bloomberg News and other media
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