Aspeed Technology Inc (信驊), which designs chips for servers supporting cloud computing technology, is issuing a total of 2.04 million shares for its debut on the GRETAI Securities Market today.
With an initial public offering price (IPO) of NT$110, the company expects to raise NT$223.96 million (US$7.59 million) from its debut, the company said yesterday.
A remote-end server chip provider, the company’s net profit last year grew 50.62 percent to NT$136 million, or earnings per share of NT$6.5.
Although the first quarter is usually a slow season for technology companies, Aspeed’s net profit in the first three months of the year expanded 105.93 percent to NT$40.15 million from NT$19.5 million a year ago, due to foreign-exchange gains and better operating expense control, the company told reporters.
“We are very optimistic about sales this month and forecast the figure will hit a record high after reaching NT$54.81 million in March,” Aspeed chairman Chris Lin (林鴻明) said at a pre-IPO press conference.
“Our sales from this quarter are expected to achieve sequential quarter-on-quarter growth, supported by strong demand from Microsoft Corp,” Lin added.
Aspeed’s sales of chips used in cloud computing technology-enabled servers has grown 30 percent annually since 2010, Lin said.
As Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp, the company’s two largest clients, shift focus to “cloud concepts” to meet the rapid increase in data consumption by smartphone and tablet users, Aspeed said it expected revenue from chips used in Windows 8-powered products to drive its annual sales.
Last year, chips used in servers accounted for 92.8 percent of Aspeed’s sales, while video, desktop and notebook camera chips accounted for 7.2 percent, Lin said.
Citing reports by market researchers, Lin said that enterprise servers are expected to see a compounded annual growth rate of 5 to 6 percent, but Aspeed’s cloud servers are forecast to outpace the industry and grow by up to 30 percent.
Currently, Japan’s Renesas Electronics Corp is the world’s largest supplier of remote-end server chips, accounting for 50 percent of the market, followed by Aspeed with 25 percent and the US’ Emulex Corp with 25 percent.
Aspeed last year rolled out a new chip that can convert Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system virtually across different devices, beating Texas Instruments Inc of the US in launching the product.
“We were far ahead of Texas Instruments; together we are the only two chip providers to Microsoft,” Lin said.
“Through collaboration with Microsoft, the tech industry giant, we forecast our chip products will achieve explosive growth this year,” Lin said.
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
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”