BANKING
Yuan deposits rise
Chinese yuan deposits in Taiwan rose to 324.58 billion yuan (US$52.9 billion) at the end of last month, representing an increase of 1.82 percent from February, the central bank said yesterday. Yuan deposits in domestic banking units recorded a 2.45 percent pickup from the previous month to 272.57 billion yuan, but slowed 1.33 percent at offshore banking units to 52 billion yuan, the bank said in a statement. As the impact of holiday disruptions faded, yuan remittance totaled 273.18 billion yuan last month, surging 60 percent from February, the bank said.
CIRCUIT MAKERS
Flexium sees income grow
Flexible printed circuit board supplier Flexium Interconnect Inc (台郡) yesterday reported that its net income grew 285.3 percent from a year earlier to NT$712 million (US$22.72 million), the highest level for the first quarter in the company’s history, thanks to rising sales and margins. However, the figure was 22.5 percent lower than the previous quarter, the company said. Earnings per share were NT$3.28 last quarter, with sales of NT$4.03 billion, up 60.5 percent year-on-year, driven by strong demand for Apple Inc’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Due to higher utilization, both gross margin and operating margin increased by double-digit percentage points to 28.2 percent and 19.9 percent respectively, the company said. For this quarter, the company expects sales to be flat or slightly lower than last quarter in tandem with its major US smartphone clients.
MANUFACTURING
Paiho shares surge
Shares of Taiwan Paiho Ltd (台灣百和), which produces fastening tapes, elastic tapes, webbing and shoelaces, surged yesterday on the back of solid consumption growth for global shoes and apparel. The stock has risen 79.91 percent this year. The stock closed 0.91 percent higher yesterday at NT$77.7 and at one point moved to NT$78.7, the highest in the company’s history, as investors expected Paiho to gain more orders as the global sporting goods industry enters its peak season this quarter. Paiho paid a cash dividend of NT$2 per share last year, when it reported a net profit of NT$980 million. The company reported net profit grew 10.98 percent year-on-year last quarter to NT$242 million on sales of NT$2.14 billion.
MANUFACTURING
Lu Hai revenue rise tipped
Lu Hai Holding Corp (六暉), which makes valve stems for tires, is forecast to see revenue increase by 6.3 percent year-on-year to NT$2.799 billion this year, because of growing contributions from its Indonesian plant, Capital Securities Corp (群益證券) said yesterday. The company is the largest tire valve manufacturer in the world and enjoys a leading position in the automotive sector. It is also capable of producing tire valves for the tire-pressure monitoring system (TPMS). With enhanced capacity utilization of its Indonesian plant and a gradually rising TPMS revenue contribution, Lu Hai’s gross margin is estimated to climb by 0.49 percentage points to 21.51 percent this year, the brokerage said.
CHIPMAKERS
MediaTek No. 2 to retire
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) vice chairman Cho Jyh-jer (卓志哲) will retire and leave the company on June 12, the handset chip designer said in a statement. The company praised Cho for helping establish exchanges between MediaTek and the academic sector on advanced technologies, and long-term development of employees in the company.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six