Wintek Corp (勝華), which supplies touchpanels to Amazon.com Inc and Chinese handset maker Xiaomi Corp (小米), yesterday reported 36 percent growth in its monthly revenue last month, but slack demand drove down its revenue for last quarter by 30 percent sequentially.
Wintek’s revenue jumped to NT$6.51 billion (US$213.9 million) last month, compared with NT$4.79 billion in February, bringing last quarter’s revenue to NT$16.31 billion, which was still down from the NT$23.29 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.
More than 60 percent of the company’s revenue last quarter was generated by flat panels used in smartphones, while about 10 percent came from notebook computer panels, Wintek said.
“January and February are a slow period. We are seeing signs of growth in March,” spokesman Jay Huang (黃傑洲) said by telephone. “The first-quarter performance should be the weakest of the year.”
The company could not provide a detailed forecast for the current quarter.
Meanwhile, making use of a quiet period, the company said it is preparing the issuance of 200 million new common shares in the form of global depository receipts, the proceeds of which are to be used to buy raw materials overseas and repay bank loans.
The touchpanel maker reported a net loss of NT$8.7 billion last year driven by oversupply and price reductions, which was a significant increase from the NT$3.95 billion in losses it posted in 2012. It marked the third straight loss-making year for the Greater Taichung-based company.
Wintek shares advanced 1 percent to NT$10.1 yesterday.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure