Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, remains the most prestigious company in Taiwan for a 16th consecutive year, according to an annual survey released by a Chinese-language publication yesterday.
The results, released by Commonwealth Monthly in a statement, showed TSMC scored highest in all 10 criteria — including finance, long-term investment, business vision, talent cultivation and ability to innovate — that the local publication used to evaluate 217 Taiwanese enterprises.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the nation’s largest electronics manufacturer by revenue, moved one place up to become the second-most prestigious company on the list, the magazine’s poll showed, citing the company's growing customer-oriented operations.
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest handset chip designer, President Chain Store Corp (統一超商) and Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), rounded out the top five.
Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), the world’s No. 1 switching-power supplies maker, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s No. 5 smartphone brand, Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world’s largest notebook PC maker, and Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) placed sixth to 10th respectively, the magazine said in the statement.
Fubon became the first financial company to enter the top 10 for five years. The magazine attributed Fubon’s performance to its comprehensive operations in insurance, banking and securities, as well as its innovation and business vision.
It also suggested that the results indicate a recovery of the financial industry.
HTC remained the most prestigious company in the communications industry category, but its overall ranking among the 217 enterprises evaluated dropped to No. 8 this year from No. 2 last year.
This reflects the company’s falling global market share and weakening innovation capability amid fierce competition from rivals like Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co over the past year.
The Commonwealth poll, which is in its 18th year, surveyed 3,072 companies and professionals from various fields between Aug. 30 and Sept. 25. A total of 22 industry categories were included in this year’s survey, with four seeing changes in their respective leaders.
The survey results suggest that companies that continue expanding their businesses and creating value-added services for customers when the economic situation at home and abroad is not good stand out from their peers.
Wan Hai Lines Ltd (萬海航運), the nation’s third-largest container shipping company by fleet size, for instance, replaced Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), Asia’s largest container shipping company, at the top of the shipping industry category, while Taiwan Mobile Corp (台灣大哥大), the nation’s second-biggest telecoms operator, ousted stronger rival Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) to become the most admired company in the telecom services category.
Drugmaker TTY Biopharm Co (台灣東洋藥品) also tops the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals category, replacing contact lens maker St. Shine Optical Co (精華光學), which fell to No. 4 in this category this year.
Meanwhile, Dupont Taiwan Ltd (台灣杜邦) continued to outrank Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) this year to lead in the petrochemical industry category for a third straight year, as Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) is still under scrutiny following a series of safety and pollution incidents last year.
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