CHIPMAKERS
Macronix posts weak sales
Macronix International Co Ltd (旺宏電子), which counts Japanese video game console maker Nintendo Co Ltd as top client, yesterday posted a weakest monthly revenue in eight months its last month due to slow seasonal demand. Revenue shrank 1.7 percent to NT$1.65 billion (US$54.27 million) last month, compared with NT$1.67 billion in December, according to a company statement. That was the lowest level since May of last year, during which Macronix made NT$1.63 billion. Compared with NT$1.63 billion in January last year, revenue rose about 0.7 percent. Last month’s figure is still far below the break-even point of NT$2.5 billion, a level Macronix set last month.
ECONOMY
Average debt rises
The average national debt shouldered by each citizen in Taiwan rose to NT$234,000 last month due to increased financial needs ahead of the Lunar New Year, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. As of the end of last month, the central government’s long-term and short-term debt totaled NT$5.4618 trillion, up NT$124.94 billion from the previous month. The increase added NT$6,000 to each individual’s debt, the ministry said. The rise was attributed to additional central government spending on subsidies for the labor insurance program and for local governments, which were short of funds for year-end bonuses for their staff.
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],”