CHIPMAKERS
Winbond to boost facilities
Memorychip maker Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子) said yesterday it would increase this year’s capital expenditure to NT$2.075 billion (US$68.9 million) from NT$1.8 billion and set next year’s spending target at NT$2.54 billion, as it plans to develop an advanced manufacturing process and upgrade its production facilities. Winbond also reported net profit of NT$416 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.1, for last quarter, ending seven consecutive quarters of losses, citing rising shipments of products with a higher profit margin. Consolidated revenue was NT$8.846 billion last quarter, up 15 percent from the previous quarter, while gross margin was 23 percent, an increase from 16 percent in the first quarter, the company said.
CASINGS
Catcher’s net profit soars
Metal casing manufacturer Catcher Technology Co (可成科技) said on Wednesday it posted NT$7.57 billion (US$251.3 million) in net profit for the first half of this year, up 77.6 percent from a year earlier. Its earnings per share for the six-month period stood at NT$10.07, up sharply from the NT$5.67 recorded the previous year. In the second quarter, Catcher’s consolidated sales totaled NT$10.46 billion, up 13.3 percent from the first quarter, while its gross margin hit 44.48 percent, up from 41.72 percent in the first quarter. It posted NT$3.64 billion in net profit for the second quarter, down 7.2 percent from the previous quarter.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is