SEMICONDUCTORS
ASE, TDK agree to team up
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday said it signed an agreement to form a joint venture with Japanese electronics component maker TDK Corp to make semiconductor embedded substrates (SESUB) in Taiwan. ASE plans to invest US$20.14 million to obtain a 51 percent stake in the joint venture, ASE Embedded Electronics Inc (日月暘電子), while TDK is to pour in US$19.35 million for the remaining 49 percent. SESUB technology enables semiconductor chips to be reduced to as thin as 50 micrometers and embedded in a four-layer plastic substrate. TDK’s SESUB technology provides numerous advantages, such as enabling miniaturization by reducing the mounting area on substrates and a thinner profile by achieving a thickness of 300 micrometers. ASE Embedded Electronics is to produce IC embedded substrates for TDK using the Japanese company’s technology.
CHIPMAKERS
MediaTek revenue drops
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), which supplies handset chips mostly to Chinese firms such as Lenovo Group (聯想), yesterday posted a nearly 26 percent decline in revenue for last month at NT$15.11 billion (US$491.1 million), from NT$20.4 billion in March. That represents an annual decline of 20.86 percent. MediaTek has forecast a sequential decline in revenue of between 10 percent and 20 percent in the current quarter, saying that a strong US dollar is hurting consumer demand for smartphones in some emerging markets. However, the company stuck to its original goal of shipping 450 million smartphone chips this year, pinning its hopes on strong seasonal demand in the second half of this year.
SOLAR ENERGY
Neo Solar losses continue
Neo Solar Power Corp (新日光能源), one of the nation’s biggest solar cell makers, yesterday posted losses of NT$492 million for last quarter, blaming declines in shipments and prices. The loss was bigger than the NT$347 million loss incurred in the fourth quarter of last year. Gross margin and operating margin reached minus-2.15 percent and minus-9.13 percent last quarter respectively. Neo Solar yesterday also posted NT$1.56 billion in revenue for last month, down 5.98 percent from NT$1.66 billion in March. That translated to an annual decline of roughly 39 percent.
SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC revenue rises 4.2%
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies chips for Apple Inc’s iPhone, yesterday posted a 4.2 percent increase in revenue to NT$75.33 billion, from NT$72.27 billion in March. On an annual basis, revenue jumped 21.7 percent from NT$61.89 billion. However, TSMC last month said that revenue growth this quarter would be about 7 percent or 8 percent due to weak demand for handset chips. Local rival United Microelectronics Co (UMC, 聯電) yesterday posted record-high monthly revenue for last month at NT$13.02 billion on rising demand for its advanced 28-nanometer chips. On a monthly basis, revenue rose 2.44 percent from NT$12.71 billion in March.
STEELMAKERS
CSC board approves raises
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, yesterday said its board has approved a plan to hike its employee payroll by 3 percent, higher than last year’s 2.7 percent pay raise. The board yesterday also approved a plan to raise employee perks to NT$2,400 per month, from NT$1,800.
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