Consumer confidence lags China
Consumer confidence in Taiwan was lower than in China and Macau in the second quarter, but higher than in Hong Kong, according to a survey released in Beijing yesterday. In Taiwan, the consumer confidence index stood at 84.7, compared with 93.3 in China, 85.3 in Macau and 84 in Hong Kong, according to the survey that was conducted jointly by Taiwan’s Fu Jen Catholic University, China’s Capital University of Economics and Business, City University of Hong Kong and Macau University of Science and Technology.
The survey looked at a wide range of factors, such as economic development, employment, consumer prices, living standards, home market and equity investments.
ASE revenue up 17 percent
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s largest chip packager, yesterday said revenue contracted 3.1 percent last month to NT$19.49 billion (US$650.2 million) from a record high level in May, but rose 17.36 percent from a year earlier.
The company’s revenue for the second quarter rose 7.2 percent quarter-on-quarter and 15.5 percent year-on-year to NT$58.62 billion, ASE said.
In particular, revenue from the company’s core chip testing and packaging businesses jumped 14.3 percent to NT$39.27 billion last quarter from a quarter ago, exceeding the company’s forecast of a 10 percent sequential increase to hit a record. On an annual basis, core business revenue increased 8.2 percent, ASE said.
Lite-On revenue up 18 percent
Optoelectronic parts manufacturer Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday said consolidated revenue for last month grew 3 percent month-on-month and 18 percent year-on-year to NT$20.24 billion, as all core businesses showed steady growth amid increased end-market demand.
The company said in a statement that the optoelectronics business segment, which contributed a 29 percent share of Lite-On’s overall revenue last month, saw revenue growth of 57 percent annually, while the information technologies business segment accounted for 46 percent of overall revenue reported growth of 23 percent year-on-year. Cumulative consolidated revenue from January through last month totaled NT$110.24 billion, up 14 percent from a year earlier, Lite-On said.
TPK revenue up 25.5 percent
Touch-panel supplier TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) on Monday said its consolidated revenue dropped 0.6 percent to NT$10.816 billion (US$361 million) last month from May, but representing an increase of 25.5 percent from the same month last year.
TPK, which counts Apple Inc as its top client, said cumulative revenue in the April-to-June quarter totaled NT$30.704 billion, up 15.3 percent from the previous quarter, but down 19.8 percent from a year earlier, the statement said.
Last quarter’s result beat the company’s guidance made in April of up to 5 percent revenue growth from last quarter.
Shipments to slow: Digitimes
Global tablet shipments are expected to see growth slow down this year, with annual increase forecast at below 20 percent, Digitimes Research said on Monday.
Global tablet shipments will grow by an annual 12 percent this year to 277 million units, compared with a 22.6 percent increase last year, 118 percent expansion in 2012 and 255.8 percent surge in 2011, Digitimes Research said.
The researcher said the slowdown in growth this year will result largely from rock bottom prices of unbranded tablets and a saturated market for Apple Inc’s iPad, as well as rising demand for 4G smartphones and wearable devices later this year.
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