Taiwan bourse last quoted at 41,917 this morning (11th), up 313 points or about 0.75%. Global chip foundry leader TSMC (2330.TT) bucked the trend, sagging 1.5% to TWD2,255.

Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) and Intel Corporation (INTC.US) reached a preliminary agreement under which Intel will manufacture certain chips used to power Apple devices, the Wall Street Journal cited informed sources over the weekend as saying.

The two companies reportedly engaged in intensive negotiations for more than a year and finalized a formal agreement in recent months.

Major Asia-Pacific chip stocks thrived broadly this morning. SMIC (00981.HK) and HUA HONG SEMI (01347.HK) each spiked about 5%. In South Korea, Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK Hynix (000660.KS) surged 5.7% and 11.2%, respectively, both notching record highs. In Japan, Kioxia (285A.JP) rallied 7.6% to a new high. MediaTek (2454.TW) in Taiwan also jumped up 8.8% to a record high.
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AASTOCKS Financial News
Website: www.aastocks.com

SG Top Picks
Stock & Type	Code	Strike(Call Level)	Last	Effective Gearing
SMIC (C)	26591	83.93 (-)	0.199	3.9 X
SMIC (C)	26595	77.82 (-)	0.199	4.3 X
SMIC (P)	28871	62 (-)	0.097	3.6 X
SMIC (P)	19794	49.79 (-)	0.017	6.0 X
SMIC (Bull)	54867	71.4 (72)	0.060	12.8 X
SMIC (Bull)	53348	68.2 (68.8)	0.091	8.4 X
SMIC (Bear)	57786	83.1 (82.5)	0.055	13.9 X
SMIC (Bear)	59399	80.6 (80)	0.036	21.3 X
HUAHO (C)	24952	140.09 (-)	0.193	3.8 X
HUAHO (P)	28874	88 (-)	0.106	2.1 X
HUAHO (Bull)	54869	120.2 (122)	0.151	8.9 X
HUAHO (Bull)	53386	106.2 (108)	0.290	4.6 X
HUAHO (Bear)	68083	146.8 (145)	0.025	10.7 X
APPLE (C)	10079	320 (-)	0.044	20.1 X
APPLE (C)	11132	300 (-)	0.315	7.5 X
APPLE (P)	11063	248 (-)	0.113	7.3 X