Projector shipments rise 12.2%
Taiwan’s projector shipments hit 26,601 units for the third quarter, a growth of 12.2 percent from the same period last year on strong demand from home users.
That figure was a rise of 3 percent from the second quarter, IDC Taiwan said in a statement yesterday.
The top five vendors in the third quarter were Epson, Optoma, Sanyo, NEC and Vivitek, in that order.
Their combined market share was 70.8 percent, with Epson alone taking up a 23.3 percent share, IDC said.
The market is expected to grow this quarter amid new model launches with features such as 3D, the market researcher said.
G-Tech forecasts 30% growth
G-Tech Optoelectronics Corp (正達國際), a supplier of touch-sensors to Apple Inc, expects sales growth of at least 30 percent next year, chief financial officer Sunny Lin (林文山) said in an interview in Taipei yesterday.
G-Tech makes cover glass and touch sensors used in smartphones and tablets, and is about 42 percent owned by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康集團), Lin said.
The Miaoli-based company’s shares will began trading on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
“We view the company as the best touch panel play in the region given strong share gains in iPad, backed by Hon Hai Precision Industry Inc’s (鴻海精密) support, improving yield and its 15-year expertise in glass processing treatment,” Jeff Pu (蒲得宇), an analyst at Fubon Securities (富邦證券) said in a report.
He rates the company “add” in new coverage, with a target price of NT$74.
Luxury tax earns NT$619m
Revenues from a luxury tax on imported items that took effect on June 1 have reached more than NT$619.12 million (US$20.37 million), the Directorate-General of Customs yesterday.
Luxury cars were the major source of revenue from the luxury tax, with a total of 1,545 vehicles imported over the period, bringing in NT$617.9 million, the customs agency said.
Cars made by Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) were the main contributors, bringing in a total of NT$221.83 million in revenue to Taiwan, the agency said in a report.
However, an imported Rolls-Royce from Britain generated NT$2.1 million, the highest tax amount to be imposed on a single car, the report said.
Banks plan cooperation pact
Mega International Commercial Bank Co (兆豐國際商銀) and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co (上海浦東發展銀行) plan to sign agreement to cooperate on business, parent Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) said in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday.
NT dollar hits six-week low
The New Taiwan dollar fell to a six-week low and government bonds rose on concern a global economic slowdown will hurt exports and sap demand for emerging-market assets.
Overseas investors cut their holdings of Taiwanese stocks for a sixth day, selling NT$10.6 billion more than they bought, exchange data showed.
The Taiwan dollar slipped 0.3 percent to NT$30.395 against its US counterpart, retreating for a fourth day, according to Taipei Forex Inc.
It touched NT$30.418, the weakest level since Oct. 12.
“You can tell from the stock markets that investor confidence is at a pretty low level,” Albert Lee, a Taipei-based fixed-income trader at Cathay United Bank Co (國泰世華銀行), said yesterday.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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
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