Economy to grow slowly: Coface
Taiwan’s economy is set to grow 3.5 percent this year and 3.8 percent next year, international credit insurance and management services group Coface said yesterday.
The UK-based Coface attributed its moderate growth projection to a recovery in demand and increases in wages, but cautioned that the shaky global recovery would pose the greatest downside risk.
HTC signs Robinson Cano deal
HTC Corp (宏達電) has signed a multi-year endorsement agreement with six-time MLB All-Star and Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano, who is set to be a North American ambassador for the brand, HTC said in a news release on Monday.
No specifics on Cano’s new role were given. Cano played for the New York Yankees for nine years until December last year, when he signed a 10-year, US$240 million contract with Seattle.
Microsoft to unveil smartphone
Microsoft Corp said it would unveil its Lumia 535 smartphone this month with an affordable price tag in its key markets, dropping the Nokia name just months after buying the Finnish company’s handset business.
Loaded with its latest Windows Phone 8.1 operating system, the 5-inch Lumia 535 and Lumia 535 dual SIM are scheduled to be priced at about 110 euros (about US$137) before taxes and subsidies, Microsoft said in a statement.
Panel maker posts Q3 loss
LCD panel maker Chunghwa Picture Tubes Co Ltd (中華映管) yesterday posted a quarterly loss of NT$1.59 billion (US$51.76 million) for last quarter, compared with losses of NT$4 million in the second quarter.
Chunghwa Picture Tubes blamed weaker-than-expected demand for 4G smartphones in China and stiff price competition for small and medium-sized panels for the losses.
Operating margin worsened to minus-8.9 percent last quarter from 0.9 percent the previous quarter.
The panel maker expects rising demand for 4G phones to help boost panel demand and reduce inventory.
TSMC to invest US$5.57bn
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) board yesterday approved capital appropriations of US$5.57 billion for installation and expansion of its advanced technology capacity.
The sum would be spent on the conversion of certain logic capacity to specialty technologies, construction of a fab and office buildings, insulation of facility systems, expansion of mainstream technology capacity, and investment on research and development for next quarter, the company said in a statement.
TSMC plans to spend US$9.6 billion on new equipment this year and the figure is likely to surpass US$10 billion next year to facilitate the ramp-up of 16-nanometer (nm) and 10-nm technologies.
Elan year-on-year profit up
Touch-panel controller chipmaker Elan Microelectronics Corp (義隆) yesterday said net profit increased 32.95 percent year-on-year last quarter, but declined 15 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$391.35 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.95.
For this quarter, revenue would fall by between 4 percent and 9 percent to between NT$1.82 billion and NT$1.92 billion, from last quarter’s NT$2 billion, the company said in a statement.
The company’s touchscreen chips accounted for 33 percent of total revenue of NT$635.47 million last month, touchpad modules made up 28 percent and the remaining 39 percent came from the non-touch controller-related products, Elan said.
Gross margin would stay at between 46 percent and 47 percent this quarter, while operating margin would be between 18 percent and 20 percent, the company said.
Adden Q3 net profit falls
Adden Technology Co Ltd (數字科技), which operates online trading platforms for selling cars, houses, clothing and virtual treasures, yesterday said net profit for last quarter reached NT$120 million, or earnings per share of NT$3.83, down from NT$134 million, or NT$4.28 per share, in the previous quarter.
However, cumulative profit for the first three quarters of the year still hit a record high of NT$350 million, or NT$11.21 per share.
Total sales for the first 10 months of the year reached NT$115 million following the acquisition of the 518.com recruitment company last month, the company said.
Adden also runs 8591.com for games, 591.com for housing trading, 8891.com for used-car trading and 101.com for apparel retailing.
Casetek to spend US$500m
Metal casing manufacturer Casetek Holdings Ltd’s (鎧勝控股) announcement last week of a new capital expenditure plan of US$500 million would help the company build up growth momentum next year, Fubon Securities Investment Services Co (富邦投顧) said in a client note on Monday.
Casetek on Friday last week told investors that it planned to use 60 percent of the planned spending for the procurement of 4,000 to 5,000 computer numerical control machines, with the remaining 40 percent of the total for technology upgrading and other research uses.
“We are positive that Casetek is aggressively raising not only its capacity scale, but also the advanced technology of metal casing,” Fubon analyst Ange Wu (吳淵傑) said in the note, while upgrading Casetek’s rating from “neutral” to “add” with a price target of NT$209.
Casetek shares closed up 3.33 percent at NT$201.5 yesterday.
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