HTC’s brand awareness drops
Taiwan’s HTC Corp (宏達電) has suffered a drop in brand awareness in the Chinese market over the past two years, according to market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技).
TrendForce said in a report that HTC’s brand awareness in China fell to 16 percent last quarter from 23 percent in the first quarter of 2012, ranking sixth.
In contrast, China’s Xiaomi Corp (小米) saw its brand awareness rise to 27 percent from 3 percent over the period, ranking third, TrendForce said.
In first and second places were South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co and US-based Apple Inc, with 83 percent and 80 percent brand awareness respectively, the report said.
Profits up for King Yuan
King Yuan Electronics Co Ltd (京元電), which provides chip testing and packaging services, yesterday said net profit soared more than 80 percent sequentially to NT$782.7 million (US$26.06 million) last quarter, from NT$431 million in the first quarter.
Earnings per share rose to NT$0.66 from NT$0.36 during the same period, according to a company statement.
The quarterly figure represented 37 percent annual growth from NT$570.5 million in net profit in the second quarter of last year.
Gross margin rose to the historic high of 32 percent last quarter, compared with 27 percent in the previous quarter.
Last quarter, King Yuan spent NT$2.75 billion on new facilities and equipment.
Faraday net income grows
Faraday Technology Corp (智原), a fabless chip designing service and silicon patent provider, yesterday said net income grew about 22 percent to NT$206 million last quarter, compared with NT$168 million in the first quarter after non-operating income surged.
Non-operating income expanded to NT$27 million last quarter from NT$3 million a quarter ago, according to the company’s financial statement.
Looking ahead, Faraday expects revenue to drop slightly this quarter, compared with last quarter’s NT$1.47 billion, due to a higher base.
The communications segment would be a relatively strong area, supported by stable shipment of 4G base station cases and contribution from new 40-nanometer projects, while revenue from patent licensing would be stable in the current quarter, Faraday said.
Paywave coming to phones
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) said on Thursday it had received a security certification from card issuer Visa Inc for digital credit cards that use near-field communication (NFC) technology on smartphones.
The certification means Chunghwa Telecom will be able to issue virtual cards through over-the-air downloads, enabling users to simply touch their NFC-enabled phones to a compatible reader to make payments.
Chunghwa Telecom said it intends to team up with local partners including banks to jointly launch commercial services based on NFC technology.
Acer’s Chromebook sales up
Acer Inc’s (宏碁) Chromebook shipments have increased 70 percent year-on-year since the beginning of the year, growing faster than the broader market, president and chief executive officer Jason Chen (陳俊聖) said on Thursday.
The company, which in 2011 launched its first Chromebook model, the AC700, is also set to launch a Chromebook in Japan next week, he said.
Citing the latest data from the NPD Group, Chen said it had topped the US Chromebook market in the first quarter of the year with a 46.7 percent share.
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