Giga Solar upbeat on orders
Solar material producer Giga Solar Materials Corp (碩禾電子) has a postive outlook on its orders for this quarter and next quarter as solar power market gains steam in both China and Japan, chairman Jimmy Chen (陳繼明) yesterday said at an annual photovoltaic show in Taipei.
The Hsinchu-based company’s business focuses on photovoltaic conductive pastes for solar cells, with front-side silver paste, rear-side silver paste and aluminum paste.
President Huang Wen-jui (黃文瑞) said the company’s aluminum paste and rear-side silver paste shipments remained leading the world market, while front-side silver paste shipments are likely to reach about 30 percent of the world market, compared with nearly 20 percent share this year.
Apple in Greater China push
Apple Inc plans to more than double the number of stores it operates in the Greater China region in the next two years.
The number of outlets will increase to 40 in the region, which includes China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, from 15 now, Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook said in an interview that was translated into Chinese and published live by Sina Corp (新浪).
The China region accounted for about US$5.8 billion of sales, or 14 percent of Apple’s total revenue, in the three months ended Sept. 27.
Nokia Q3 profit at US$950m
Nokia Corp yesterday reported a third-quarter net profit of 747 million euros (US$950 million), from a loss of 91 million euros a year earlier. Sales in the period grew to 3.3 billion euros, from 2.9 billion euros a year earlier.
Following the sale of its ailing cellphone unit to Microsoft Corp, Nokia saw improvements in all three remaining operation areas, and the company predicted strong growth in its networks sector, which accounts for about 90 percent of Nokia’s revenue, chief executive officer Rajeev Suri said.
SK Hynix posts record profit
SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest memorychip maker, yesterday reported a record high quarterly net profit for the three months to September on strong sales and currency earnings.
Net profit came to 1.09 trillion won (US$1.04 billion) in the third quarter, up 14 percent from a year earlier. The company also posted an all-time high quarterly operating profit of 1.3 trillion won, up 12 percent year-on-year.
Hynix attributed the profit growth to technology upgrades and higher margins for data-retaining NAND Flash memory chips. Revenue grew six percent on-year to 4.31 trillion won, also the highest quarterly amount since the company was founded in 1983.
Taiwan, EU discuss 5G
Taiwan and the EU are to hold a conference today for future cooperation in 5G telecommunications technology.
Taiwan has listed the 5G telecom services at the top of its technology development agenda for the next generation, while the EU has stepped up efforts in developing the advanced technology beyond the current 4G telecom services.
The Taiwanese delegation — composed of almost 30 telecommunications experts from the government, academic and business sectors — said the conference will focus on a possible cooperation framework between Taiwan and the EU, and through such a mechanism, both sides will be able to push for more exchanges, it said.
The delegation will launch a joint meeting with the EU’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology to exchange views on 5G technology cooperation.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last