AU Optronics Corp (
The world's third-largest LCD maker rose 3.5 percent to close at NT$50.50 yesterday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the biggest gain in more than two weeks, outranking a 0.01-percent increase on the nation's benchmark TAIEX.
South Korea's LG.Philips LCD Co, the second-biggest LCD maker, and Taiwan's Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (
On Thursday, AU Optronics said its sales last month increased 89 percent from a year earlier to NT$44.1 billion (US$1.33 billion) and Chi Mei said its revenue last month rose 69 percent to NT$29.5 billion.
Citigroup Global Markets yesterday rated AU Optronics with a "buy" recommendation, citing the company's more controlled capital expenditure and sustainable cash flows, a research note released yesterday showed.
Citigroup said there was a legitimate concern about the LCD industry's exposure to the US market rattled by recent subprime mortgage problems.
"However, other regions have been showing decent strength ... Besides, TV prices have become more affordable than ever, so perhaps TV demand will be much less sensitive to any potential credit risks," Citigroup said.
Prices of 17-inch monitor panels climbed 2.3 percent in the first half of September from a month earlier, and laptop panels measuring 15.4 inches rose 2.9 percent, according to Taipei-based WitsView Technology Corp (
"Demand for notebook and monitor panels remains robust and prices are likely to continue rising until October, maybe even into November," said Jeff Kim, an analyst at Hyundai Securities Co in Seoul. Kim rates the LCD industry "overweight."
A shortage of computer screens drove up prices and helped Seoul-based LG.Philips post a profit for the three months ended June 30, its first in five quarters.
The company's operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, may exceed 500 billion won (US$533 million) in each of the two remaining quarters this year because of higher panel prices, said Lee Hak-moo, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities Co in Seoul.
LG.Philips shares rose 4.7 percent to 42,650 won, while Tainan-based Chi Mei gained 2.1 percent to NT$33.70.
Industry leader Samsung Electronics Co, also the world's biggest computer-memory chipmaker, closed unchanged at 575,000 won, after falling as much as 1.6 percent.
The DRAMexchange Index, which tracks prices of the most widely used computer-memory chips, fell 1.9 percent yesterday, extending declines to 3.6 percent this week, told Taipei's DRAMexchange.com (
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Apple Inc increased iPhone production in India by about 53 percent last year and now makes a quarter of its marquee devices there, reflecting the US company’s efforts to avoid tariffs on China. The company assembled about 55 million iPhones in India last year, up from 36 million a year earlier, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because the numbers aren’t public. Apple makes about 220 million to 230 million iPhones a year globally, with India’s share of the total increasing rapidly. Apple has accelerated its expansion in the world’s most populous country in recent years, bolstered
HEADWINDS: The company said it expects its computer business, as well as consumer electronics and communications segments to see revenue declines due to seasonality Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it aims to grow its artificial intelligence (AI) server revenue more than 10-fold this year from last year, driven by orders from neocloud solutions clients and large cloud service providers. The electronics manufacturing service provider said AI server revenue growth would be driven primarily by the Nvidia Corp GB300 server platform. Server shipments are expected to increase each quarter this year, with the second half likely to outperform the first half, it said. The AI server market is expected to broaden this year as more inference applications emerge, which would drive demand for system-on-chip, application-specific integrated circuits
PROJECTION: TSMC said it expects strong growth this year, with revenue in US dollars projected to grow by about 30 percent, outperforming the industry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported consolidated sales last month reached NT$317.66 billion (US$9.98 billion), the highest ever for the month of February, driven by robust demand for chips built using the company’s advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process. Last month’s figure was up 22.2 percent from a year earlier, but fell 20.8 percent from January, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. For the first two months of the year, TSMC posted cumulative sales of NT$718.91 billion, up 29.9 percent from a year earlier. Analysts attributed the growth to sustained global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products
RSS