A plan by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, to increase wages for its employees in Taiwan in July is expected to prompt other enterprises in the local business sector to follow suit, an analyst said yesterday.
“Hon Hai Precision is a local business leader. I think its move will serve as a strong indicator to the business sector,” Mirae Asset Management analyst Arch Shih (施博元) said.
Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) said in a TV interview on Wednesday that his company is reviewing pay scales for its employees in Taiwan as the public is faced with a rising cost of living since the government removed a mechanism to partially freeze domestic fuel prices.
The government is also likely to raise electricity prices after the latest increase in fuel prices, which became effective on Monday.
Gou said he hopes the pay increases will go into effect in July after the current review is completed.
He added that employees are Hon Hai Precision’s most precious asset and that under the current circumstances the company should raise their wages.
However, he did not elaborate on the size of the salary increase for the company’s approximately 10,000 employees in Taiwan.
Local media have reported that some other high-tech heavyweights, such as notebook computer maker Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦) and flat panel makers AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), might also give their employees a pay raise later this year.
The plan to raise wages did not have an adverse impact on Hon Hai shares on the local bourse, with the stock outperforming the broader market to close up 0.91 percent at NT$111.
Shih said that was because investors have been upbeat about a tie-up between Hon Hai and Japan’s Sharp Corp that was announced last month.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
RSS