Sensational reports of computer viruses spreading around the world and causing billions of dollars in damage has helped increase the sales of Trend Micro's (
"The `Anna' virus -- and all the press it's getting -- is a good example of why the Internet security market is so much stronger than other parts of the dotcom economy and why Trend Micro can keep coming up with this kind of growth," said John DeRiso, spokesman for Trend Micro in Taipei.
The Taiwan-based software firm announced record year-on-year net profit growth of 91 percent to NT$1.3 billion (US$40.96 million) and net sales growth of 59 percent to NT$6.12 billion (US$189.5 million).
Trend Micro also said it would carry out a two-for-one stock split on May 18, and the shares will be allocated on March 31. The company is listed on both the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ.
The company's chairman said 67 percent of its anti-virus software sales were for Internet gateways (servers), and 33 percent went into desktop computers. He said the firm is focusing more and more on its Internet business.
"The solid results show that we are well-positioned in our core enterprise market," said Steve Chang (
Trend Micro was founded in 1988 by Chang, who has become a local hero here in Taiwan for growing the company into a global computer virus-fighting powerhouse with over 700 employees in 15 countries. Its headquarters was moved to Tokyo in order to list the firm in Trend's most lucrative market, Japan. Last year, 35 percent of sales came from Japan, 30 percent from the US, 20 percent from Europe and 15 percent from Taiwan and other regions.
The company also won praise both last year and this year in its efforts to help stymie two major computer viruses, the "I Love You" virus which circumnavigated the globe last May and the recent "AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs" virus. The firm maintains a 24-hour virus fighting lab in The Philippines and another lab in North America. The firm's popular software, PC-cillin, is sold around the world, and it comes in a version for Internet servers.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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