DRAM prices to rebound
The price of computer memory chips, or dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, are expected to rebound further this month ahead of back-to-school computer demand and growing demand for bigger memory space, Taipei-based research house DRAMeXchange Technology Inc (集邦科技) said yesterday.
Contract price is expected to go up again in the second half of this month following a 5-percent hike in the first two weeks, DRAMeXchange said.
On the spot market, the price has jumped 7.58 percent to US$2.13 per unit last week from the prior week on strong demand from computer vendors and limited supply. The price rose 0.71 percent to US$2.25 on average.
FPC sales up 30 percent
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), Taiwan's only publicly traded oil refiner, increased sales 30 percent last month from a year earlier.
Revenue climbed to NT$64.4 billion (US$2 billion) from NT$49.5 billion a year earlier, the Mailiao, Yunlin County-based company said yesterday in a filing to the nation's stock exchange. Sales were at NT$61.6 billion in June.
Formosa Petrochemical shares rose 2.19 percent to NT$88.70 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) yesterday, beating a 0.89 percent loss in the weighted index.
AIG announces new chairman
AIG General Insurance (Taiwan) Co (友邦產險), formerly known as Central Insurance Co (中央產險), yesterday announced that Rudi Spaan has been appointed its chairman. Prior to the new appointment, Spaan was general manager of AIU Insurance Company's Taiwan branch, another general insurance arm of American International Group (AIG) in Taiwan.
"My first challenge is to lead and complete the legal merger of AIG's two general insurance operations in Taiwan, possibly in the fourth quarter of this year subject to approval from Taiwan regulators," he said in a press statement issued yesterday.
Lim Kian-tiong (林建忠), AIU Insurance's vice president of finance and accounting, will serve as its acting general manager for the moment.
Following the merger, AIG General Insurance is expected to be the nation's No. 6 insurer in terms of direct gross premiums written, with a market share of 7.4 percent, it said in June.
Lite-On posts record revenues
Lite-On Technology (光寶科技), the nation's leading optoelectronic company, reported consolidated revenues for last month of NT$16.6 billion (US$503 million), up 33 percent year-on-year, making a third record high in its history. The accumulated revenues from January to July were NT$97.1 billion, up 1.2 percent from the same period last year, it said in a statement yesterday.
High-margin businesses such as enclosure, power and light emitting diodes all saw historic highs in monthly sales.
Compared with last year, enclosure business jumped 100.5 percent, and power supply business grew 35.4 percent, the statement said.
Going into the seasonally strong third quarter, it said it expects these high-margin businesses to see further expansion.
Nan Ya sales up 26 percent
Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), the world's largest processor of plastics for pipes and imitation leather, said sales last month rose 26 percent from a year earlier.
Sales climbed to NT$20.1 billion (US$611 million) from NT$16 billion in July of last year, the Taipei-based company said yesterday in a statement to the TSE. Revenue rose from NT$18.1 billion in June.
Nan Ya Plastics shares closed down 0.42 percent at NT$71.70 on the TSE yesterday.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”