The nation's largest chip testing and packaging company, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光半導體), yesterday reported a lower-than-expected quarterly earnings for the last quarter, but assured investors its upbeat outlook for this year.
During the January-March period, the company's earnings drop-ped 24 percent to about NT$1.64 billion (US$49.7 million), or NT$0.44 a share, from NT$2.15 billion in the final quarter of last year. In the first quarter of last year, the company posted a loss of NT$348 million.
First-quarter revenue dropped 7 percent to NT$17.22 billion quarter on quarter, but represented a 49-percent gain from a year ago.
To ease jitters about a possible industrial reverse, Advanced Semiconductor's chief financial executive Joseph Tung (董宏思) told investors yesterday that the decline was the result of a combination of seasonal factors and foundry production constraints that surfaced late last month.
"The reduction did not surprise us when it came in the slack first quarter. We believe we'll be on track to grow quarter on quarter for the remainder of the year," he said.
"We're still optimistic about the industry for this year," he said.
The Kaohsiung-based company will keep unchanged this year's sale target of adding additional 50 percent growth on the NT$57.31 billion posted last year, he added.
Tung's remarks came after the company's US bigger rival, Amkor Technology Inc, posted a disappointing profit for the first quarter on Wednesday, blaming weak demand for mobile phones. The bearish news has raised concern among investors about a possible industrial downturn after Amkor shares plunged nearly 30 percent on the NASDAQ index.
"We haven't seen similar soft demand," Advanced Semiconductor spokesman Richard Chang (張洪本) said.
Advanced Semiconductor and Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品) shares dropped 5 percent and 6.21 percent, respectively, to NT$28.5 and NT$28.7, on the TAIEX yesterday.
Advanced Semiconductor expects sales to expand at least 10 percent in the second quarter from the first three months and gross margin to rebound to 25 percent due to a price hike.
"The communications segment will be the main force to drive growth," Jason Chang said.
Meanwhile, Siliconware said its first-quarter profit climbed 1.7 percent to NT$1.4 billion on revenue of NT$8.25 billion.
Contribution from the communications sector increased to take 27 percent of Siliconware's total NT$8.25-billion revenue in the first three months, up from 20 percent, it said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last