TELECOMS
Size counts for smartphones
The market share of smartphone models equipped with five to 7 inch displays grew to 37 percent in Taiwan last quarter, from 24 percent in the first quarter, market researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday. Taiwanese consumers’ preference for larger-sized smartphones outperformed the average 21 percent in other Asia-Pacific markets, IDC said. Taiwan’s domestic smartphone sales totaled 1.7 million units last quarter, up 20 percent year-on-year, but down 8 percent quarter-on-quarter, it said. Smartphone market share increased to 81 percent last quarter, compared with 80 percent in the first quarter, IDC said.
AUTOMOBILES
Tong Yang profit rises
Tong Yang Industry Co (東陽實業), which makes auto parts such as bumpers and hoods, yesterday said that its pretax profit rose 90 percent last month from a year ago. Cumulative profit in the first eight months grew 60 percent year-on-year amid improving economic outlooks in the US and Europe, it added. Pretax profit increased to NT$148.98 million (US$5.03 million) last month, with profit in the first eight months of the year totaling NT$1.21 billion, the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Tong Yang expects sales to grow next quarter from this quarter on rising aftermarket sales in the winter and traveling demand during the Christmas season, after total revenue grew 14.06 percent to NT$11.18 billion in the first eight months.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last