Electronic component maker Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday posted its strongest monthly revenue since March, supported by a spike in demand for power-supply units, its biggest revenue source, after customers launched new products, such as Ultrabooks.
Revenue rose 2 percent to NT$10.43 billion (US$349 million) last month, from May’s NT$10.20 billion, which was 4 percent growth from NT$10.06 billion a year earlier.
In the April-to-June period, Lite-On’s revenue grew 1.59 percent year-on-year, or 12 percent quarter-on-quarter, to NT$30.68 billion, matching the company’s forecast that the second quarter would see growth compared with the first quarter as makers of cloud-computing servers and Ultrabooks boost demand for the company’s camera modules and power-supply units.
The company said on June 8 that it expected revenue to grow further in the third quarter.
Last month, revenue from power-supply units rose more than 10 percent year-on-year, hitting the highest level in 15 months, as demand for high-end products supporting cloud-computing technology increased, as did market share, the company said in a statement.
Revenue from its optoelectronics business grew at a 12 percent annual rate on the back of substantial growth in LED lighting components, with the total having quadrupled from a year ago. Revenue from camera modules for PCs and handsets grew 30 percent year-on-year.
Revenue from the sales of keyboards and other electronic peripherals increased 20 percent last month from a year earlier, thanks to an increase in market share, Lite-On said.
Separately, Amtran Technology Co (瑞軒科技), which makes flat-panel TVs for Vizio Inc and other TV brands, yesterday said revenue had expanded 64 percent year-on-year and 11 percent month-on-month to NT$5.6 billion last month.
That brought second-quarter revenue to NT$15.2 billion, up 8 percent from the NT$14.07 billion posted in the first quarter.
Shipments grew 8 percent last month to 540,000 units, from 500,000 units in May, according to a company statement.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to