A group of Chinese workers from Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday for a seven-day tour of the country, courtesy of their employer.
The 216 Foxconn employees from 17 provinces and 21 factories in China are scheduled to visit many popular tourist sites in Taiwan.
The company will be footing the bill for all costs involved, because the tour is part of a plan by group chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) to help reduce worker stress and encourage high-performing workers, according to a report in the -Chinese-language United Daily News.
Foxconn, which is one of Apple Inc’s major suppliers, has denied media accusations that it exploits its workers and has been trying to rid itself of its sweatshop image.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), parent company of Foxconn Technology Group, came under heavy selling pressure last week after a plunge in Apple shares on Wall Street, and was down more than 10 percent from a week earlier to close at NT$103.00 on Friday.
Hon Hai was affected by fears that possible cuts in subsidies by telecoms operators for iPhone -users would drag down demand for Apple smartphones, while market speculation that demand for iPads is likely to fall has also impacted the stock, analysts said.
In addition, an agreement between Apple and the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a Chinese environmental group, to conduct a pollution control audit of the US firm’s supply chain in China added downward pressure on Hon Hai, although the Taiwanese firm has said the audit will not include its Chinese subsidiary.
Whether Hon Hai will be able to reverse the recent share price downturn could depend on its results for the first quarter of this year, analysts said.
The company is scheduled to release its first-quarter unconsolidated earnings this week.
In the first three months of this year, Hon Hai posted NT$789.94 billion (US$26.8 billion) in unconsolidated sales, up 42.59 percent from a year earlier.
The figure was the second--highest quarterly level in the company’s history.
Barclays Capital said it expected Hon Hai to report earnings per share of NT$1.93 for the first quarter.
From India to China to the US, automakers cannot make vehicles — not that no one wants any, but because a more than US$450 billion industry for semiconductors got blindsided. How did both sides end up here? Over the past two weeks, automakers across the world have bemoaned the shortage of chips. Germany’s Audi, owned by Volkswagen AG, would delay making some of its high-end vehicles because of what chief executive officer Markus Duesmann called a “massive” shortfall in an interview with the Financial Times. The firm has furloughed more than 10,000 workers and reined in production. That is a further blow
MOBILE SMART: The Dimensity 1200 is 22 percent better in terms of performance than its predecessor, and 25 percent more power-efficient, the handset chip designer said MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday unveiled its premium 5G processors — the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 — as it vies for a larger slice of the world’s rapidly growing 5G smartphone market. Manufactured using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (台積電) 6-nanometer process technology, the Dimensity 1200 processor performs 22 percent better than the previous generation Dimensity 1000+ processor, and is 25 percent more power-efficient, MediaTek said. Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi Corp (小米) and Realme Mobile Telecommunications (Shenzhen) Co (銳爾覓移動通信) are to be the first adopters of the latest Dimensity chips, the companies said during a virtual media briefing. Xiaomi plans to equip its first
Answering to a reported request by Germany to help address a chip shortage in its auto industry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday said that it was in talks with domestic chip suppliers. Foreign media over the weekend reported that German Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier had sent a request to Taipei to ask Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to cooperate more closely with German automakers to provide microchips and sensors, to bridge a shortage that has emerged over the past few months. The MOEA said that it had not yet received the request and could therefore not elaborate
FOCUS ON FOUNDRIES: An analyst said that some investors would be disappointed because they were expecting a larger announcement of a partnership with TSMC Intel Corp’s incoming chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger on Thursday pledged to regain the company’s lead in chip manufacturing, countering growing calls from some investors to shed that part of its business. “I am confident that the majority of our 2023 products will be manufactured internally,” Gelsinger said. “At the same time, given the breadth of our portfolio, it’s likely that we will expand our use of external foundries for certain technologies and products.” He plans to provide more details after officially taking over the CEO role on Feb. 15, but Gelsinger was clear that Intel is sticking with its once mighty