TECHNOLOGY
Largan to distribute dividend
Largan Precision Co (大立光), which supplies camera lenses for Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday said its board has approved a plan to distribute NT$51 per share in a cash dividend based on last year’s net profit of NT$19.43 billion (US$629.6 million), or earnings per share of NT$144.91. The distribution represents a payout ratio of 35.19 percent, down from last year’s 39.78 percent. The planned dividend suggests a yield of 1.59 percent, based on the firm’s closing price of NT$3,200 in Taipei trading yesterday.
INVESTMENT
Science park deals approved
A cross-ministerial commission reviewing investment projects in the nation’s three major science parks yesterday approved six investment projects totaling NT$2.7 billion, according to a statement. Those investments include NT$600 million from Ye Fong Aluminum Industrial Ltd (燁鋒輕合金). Ye Fong, which makes aluminum used in the aerospace and medical sectors, plans to invest in developing advanced aluminum for aircraft ejection seat catapult cartridges and prostheses, the statement said. As of yesterday, the nation’s three science parks have attracted a total of NT$9.56 billion in investments this year, surging 36.9 percent from NT$6.99 billion in the same period of last year.
SOLAR CELLS
Tainergy posts Q1 net profit
Solar cell maker Tainergy Tech Co Ltd (太極能源) yesterday reported net profit of NT$26.74 million, or NT$0.1 per share, for last quarter, as most bigger rivals were in the red. Tainergy attributed the results to a gain from selling 1.24 megawatts of solar cells to a subsidiary, which builds solar power systems, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. The company posted net profit of NT$115 million in the first quarter of last year. Gross margin shrank to 4 percent last quarter from 14 percent a year ago. The company booked an operating loss of NT$14.17 million last quarter, reversing an operating profit of NT$123 million in the previous year.
ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai confirms NEC deal
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer, yesterday confirmed that it is teaming up with Japan’s NEC to go into cloud business in China and the rest of Asia. Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) confirmed a recent Nihon Keizai Shimbun report on the joint venture, but provided no other details. According to the news report, the joint venture is to combine NEC’s cloud technology and Hon Hai’s data centers in Taiwan and China as well as the latter’s network of customers. The two companies are to begin providing joint cloud services this year, the report said.
INTERNET
Yahoo touts mobile traffic
The Taiwan unit of Yahoo Inc yesterday predicted that its mobile traffic on e-commerce business would exceed PC traffic this year thanks to the Web portal’s “Mobile First” strategy that has been pushed by chief executive officer Marissa Mayer since 2012. The company’s mobile transactions accounted for 30 percent of its total e-commerce revenues in the first quarter of this year, with mobile traffic exceeding 40 percent of the overall traffic on e-commerce platforms, according to Jacky Wang (王志仁), vice president of the e-commerce group at Yahoo Taiwan and Hong Kong. Mobile traffic on Yahoo Taiwan’s Super Mall, one of its three major e-commerce platforms, took a 57 percent share of the total in the first quarter, surpassing PC traffic for the first time, he said.
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
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
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