Shares of AU Optronics Corp (
The South Korean slim-screen maker warned overnight that average panel prices will tumble nearly 20 percent quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter, faster than a 10 to 15 percent range forecast previously.
The company also expects continued downward price pressure in the first half of next year, LG Philips LCD said in a statement on Tuesday.
AU's shares were later bolstered by the company's optimistic forecast, but still declined 2.42 percent to close at NT$44.4 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
A Chinese-language business daily yesterday reported that resilient seasonal demand may carry into the next quarter, quoting AU vice president Hsiung Hui (熊暉).
An AU official confirmed Hsiung's forecast.
"We feel that panel demand for LCD monitors and LCD TVs is extending to December. We also feel a supply constraint for certain sizes," said Hsiao Ya-wen (
In the past, demand for slim-screen monitors usually peaked in November, Hsiao said.
"In such circumstances, AU's operation could hit the bottom in the first quarter. Price decline will slow down on improved demand," she said.
Shares of smaller rival Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (
"The renewed concern about further price decline triggered a sell-off of shares of AU and its local competitors from cautious investors," said Kevin Chung (
Overseas investors sold a net of 8.59 million AU shares yesterday alone, according to stock exchange statistics.
Ken Yu (
"The ball is in the South Korean companies' court," Yu said.
LG Philips LCD, which has been a major price killer since the third quarter, is still capable of waging new price wars because it is making profits, Yu said.
On the contrary, AU is expected to swing into a loss in the fourth quarter as panel prices have already dropped below cost, Yu said.
"Recent signs did point to an improvement in demand, but it is hard to say when the prolonged price decline will end," Yu said.
Yu forecast that the Taiwanese company would post a smaller-than-expected loss of NT$700 million, or NT$0.14 a share, for the current quarter.
AU projected in October that the quarterly loss would be around NT$1 billion.
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