Wistron Corp (緯創), the world’s third-largest contract notebook PC maker, yesterday said it expected to see better gross margins this quarter as it raises prices amid a supply squeeze.
The company posted a gross margin of 5.18 percent and a net profit of NT$2.01 billion (US$69 million), or earnings per share (EPS) of NT$1.02, in the first quarter — both of which were its lowest in eight quarters.
CEO Simon Lin (林憲銘) told an investor teleconference that the firm was raising its contract manufacturing prices in the wake of a supply squeeze after Japan was hit by twin disasters on March 11.
The company retained its shipment forecast of 30 million notebooks this year, saying it sells more conventional notebooks than netbooks, which have taken a hit from rising sales of tablet PCs.
Laptop shipments could reach as many as 14 million in the first half, Lin said, adding that Wistron also expects to ship 1 million tablets this year.
Wistron’s larger rival, Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), which has also raised selling prices, said on Tuesday it would ship only 48 million notebooks this year, down from its prior forecast of 55 million, because of competition from tablets and reduced orders from a major client, Acer Inc (宏碁).
Acer yesterday reported first-quarter consolidated revenues of NT$127.8 billion and operating income of NT$1.93 billion, down 21 percent and 56 percent respectively from a year earlier, it said in an e-mailed statement.
First-quarter net income reached NT$1.185 billion, or EPS of NT$0.45.
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
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
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