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.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
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