LG Electronics Inc, the world’s third-largest maker of mobile phones, may close some of its factories as the company faces falling revenue and profitability amid the global recession, chief executive officer Nam Yong said.
“We are now in the assessment stage,” Nam told reporters in Dubai yesterday. “No job cuts are expected in Korea.”
LG, which gets more than 70 percent of its revenue from overseas, said earlier this month it planned to reduce costs by 3 trillion won (US$2.2 billion) this year after it unexpectedly posted a record quarterly loss of 671.3 billion won as the global recession damped demand for handsets and televisions.
The company will probably be unprofitable in the current period, Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co said, as the economic slump forces consumers to slow spending on appliances, flat-panel TVs and mobile phones.
Separately, South Korea’s exports rose 0.4 percent to US$17.8 billion in the first 20 days of this month, helped by a weaker won, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
A weaker won makes South Korean products more competitive, the ministry said. The won has plunged 16 percent so far this year, making it the worst performer among the 10 most-traded Asian currencies outside Japan. Seoul’s exports tumbled by a record 32.8 percent last month, foreshadowing a deepening slump in Asia’s export-driven economies.
Shares in Taiwan closed at a new high yesterday, the first trading day of the new year, as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued to break records amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 386.21 points, or 1.33 percent, at 29,349.81, with turnover totaling NT$648.844 billion (US$20.65 billion). “Judging from a stronger Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, I think foreign institutional investors returned from the holidays and brought funds into the local market,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Foreign investors just rebuilt their positions with TSMC as their top target,
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
Garment maker Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) yesterday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue of NT$7.93 billion (US$251.44 million), down 9.48 percent from NT$8.76 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, revenue fell 10.83 percent from NT$8.89 billion, company data showed. The figure was also lower than market expectations of NT$8.05 billion, according to data compiled by Yuanta Securities Investment and Consulting Co (元大投顧), which had projected NT$8.22 billion. Makalot’s revenue this quarter would likely increase by a mid-teens percentage as the industry is entering its high season, Yuanta said. Overall, Makalot’s revenue last year totaled NT$34.43 billion, down 3.08 percent from its record NT$35.52
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