TSMC posts record-high sales
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday reported record-high sales of NT$74.85 billion (US$2.46 billion) last month, bringing the chipmaker’s revenues last quarter to an all-time high as well.
Revenue surged 35.1 percent from NT$55.38 billion in September last year and 8 percent from NT$69.28 billion in August.
Last quarter, revenue totaled NT$209.06 billion, slightly exceeding TSMC’s forecast of NT$206 billion to NT$209 billion. It was up 14.23 percent from NT$183.02 billion in the second quarter.
ASE sales up by double digits
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s biggest chip packager, said on Wednesday that third-quarter consolidated sales reached a record NT$66.63 billion, up 17.4 percent year-on-year and 13.7 percent quarter-on-quarter.
Revenue from its IC packaging and testing operations grew 11.6 percent from a year ago and 7.5 percent from a quarter earlier to a record NT$42.21 billion, ASE said.
In addition to the orders from Apple Inc, ASE rode the wave of rising demand for chips used in base stations in 4G LTE telecom services networks, while chips used in computers, automotive applications and other consumer electronic devices also boosted shipments of ASE's high-tech IC packaging and testing services, in particular its system-in-package technology, in the third quarter, analysts said.
Insurer gains from realty sale
Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽) has sold real-estate properties near the Taipei Railway Station for NT$374 million (US$12.26 million), allowing the insurer to book gains of NT$259 million, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday.
The real-estate properties include a 45.46 ping (150m2) plot of land on Gongyuan Road and two floors of an office building on Guanquian Road, in addition to some basement parking space, the filing said.
IT distributor Synnex sales up
Synnex Technology International Corp (聯強), Asia’s largest distributor of information-technology (IT) products and electronics components, on Wednesday reported revenue of NT$33.89 billion for last month, up 8.72 percent year-on-year and 18.26 percent month-on-month, mainly due to better-than-expected sales of consumer electronics and communication products, the company said in a statement.
Synnex’s third-quarter revenue amounted to NT$90.46 billion, up 5.48 percent year-on-year and 16.07 percent quarter-on-quarter.
Hanoi negotiation meet slated
Taiwan will soon hold its third negotiation meeting with the Hanoi government over compensation for Taiwanese-invested companies who suffered during the violent demonstrations in Vietnam in May, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The upcoming meeting will be centered on whether the Vietnamese government has actually carried out its compensation policies, including offering preferential tax treatment and loans to Taiwanese companies, the ministry said.
Taiwan will also seek Vietnam’s support to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership and discuss the renewal of an investment protection agreement the two countries signed in 1993, the ministry said.
US sets anti-dumping duties
The US has set anti-dumping duties on non-oriented electrical steel (NOES) from Taiwan, China, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Sweden on the grounds that the products were being sold at “unfairly” low prices in the US.
NOES is cold-rolled flat-rolled alloy steel that is used in the machine tool industry and in the production of electricity generators.
Taiwan’s China Steel Corp (中鋼) faces a 27.54 percent anti-dumping tariff, while Leicong Industrial Co (麗鋼) has been ordered to pay an anti-dumping tariff of 52.23 percent and a countervailing or anti-subsidy duty of 17.12 percent, according to the US Department of Commerce.
A final ruling by the department is due on Nov. 17.
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
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day