Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), the nation’s top LCD panel maker, yesterday reported an increase in revenue for last month of 1.6 percent after the company said factory utilization would improve gradually.
The improvement reflected a weaker-than-expected recovery in price and in demand for back-to-school inventory. In particular, a price uptick for panels used in TVs and notebook computers stalled after prices bounced back by between 1 percent and 3 percent in the second half of May, market researcher DisplaySearch said.
Revenue rose to NT$41.03 billion (US$1.42 billion) last month, from NT$40.38 billion in May, the company said in a statement. Shipments of computer and TV panels expanded 1.6 percent month-on-month to 1.3 million units.
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) said on Thursday that revenue fell 6.9 percent to NT$31.27 billion last month after it shipped 11.9 percent fewer PC and TV panels, 9.2 million units, down from 10.45 million units a month ago.
In the second quarter, AUO’s revenue increased by 5.2 percent to NT$98.05 billion. The company missed its target of between 5 percent and 9 percent growth in PC and TV panel shipments in the second quarter, after reporting anemic 4.3 percent quarter-on-quarter growth to 29.63 million units.
Chimei’s revenue dropped 2.1 percent to NT$121.7 billion last quarter, compared with NT$124.33 billion in the first quarter. Shipments of PC and TV panels grew at a pace of 10 percent last quarter to 35.51 million units from 32.27 million units the previous quarter
Yesterday, local LCD panel makers Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (CPT, 中華映管) and Hannstar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) said revenue contracted 10.3 percent and 6.05 percent respectively last month, to NT$4.82 billion and NT$3.7 billion as a result of falling shipments.
CPT and Hannstar said shipments of PC and TV panels declined 7.9 percent and 27.4 percent month-on-month to 1.37 million units and 339,000 units respectively.
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
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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],”