Sales generated by companies listed on Taiwan’s main board and the over-the-counter (OTC) market for the first quarter fell 3.4 percent from a year earlier to NT$6.07 trillion (US$202 billion), government statistics showed on Saturday.
According to the statistics compiled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, sales posted by computer and optoelectronics firms listed on the main board and OTC market during the three-month period totaled NT$2.17 trillion, the highest level among all of the sectors in the bourse.
However, the sales figure was 10.7 percent less than a year earlier as consumers postponed their purchasing plans before the launch of new products, the statistics indicated.
The electronics component sector came in second in terms of revenue after posting NT$1.1 trillion in sales in the first quarter, a 5.4 percent increase from a year earlier.
At the end of March, a total of 811 firms were listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, while 638 firms were listed on the OTC market.
In the three-month period, the listed companies on both markets posted NT$258.8 billion in net profit, up 74.7 percent from a year earlier as semiconductor firms became more profitable and the flat panel business turned a profit, the statistics showed.
The electronics component sector was the most profitable in the first quarter after its posted NT$64.8 billion in net profit ahead of the computer and optoelectronics sector, which recoded NT$45.4 billion in net profit.
The listed companies spent NT$338.9 billion in fixed capital investments in the first three months, up 2.4 percent year-on-year, with the electronics component sector pouring the biggest chunk of investments, worth NT$154.7 billion, among all of the sectors.
Their expenditure in research and development for the first quarter totaled NT$118 billion, up 5.2 percent from a year earlier, while the electronics component sector spent NT$53.6 billion in R&D, the largest chunk among all of the sectors.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained