TECHNOLOGY
Quanta posts April sales dip
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which assembles Apple Inc’s 12-inch MacBook and Apple Watch, yesterday reported 15 percent monthly decline in sales to NT$67.52 billion (US$2.19 billion) for last month. On an annual basis, Quanta’s sales dropped by 7 percent from last year’s NT$72.58 billion. The company’s consolidated revenues totaled NT$272.71 billion in the first four months of this year, down 5.45 percent from NT$288.42 billion made in last year. Quanta is scheduled to host a news conference on its first-quarter financial results on Thursday.
SOLAR ENERGY
Gintech posts Q1 loss
Gintech Energy Corp (昱晶), one of the nation’s biggest solar cell makers, yesterday posted a quarterly loss of NT$296 million for the first quarter of this year — its third straight — as solar prices slumped. Revenue plunged by 23.2 percent to NT$3.07 billion last quarter from the previous quarter. Gross margin was minus-2.16 percent. To improve its financial structure, Gintech’s board approved an issue of 50 million new shares to raise funds via private placements, and an issue of 130 million shares for existing shareholders, or for overseas investors in the form of global depositary receipts. The fundraising plans need shareholders’ approval, with a meeting scheduled for June 22. In a separate statement, solar cell maker Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) said its board approved a merger with Topcell Solar International Co (聯景光電) on June 1, a month early.
ELECTRONICS
DRAM revenue slides
Global DRAM revenue fell by 7.5 percent sequentially last quarter to US$12 billion, according to DRAMexchange, a division of TrendForce Corp (集邦科技). The decline in revenue is the result of an 11 percent quarterly decrease of the average DRAM contract price due to seasonally slack PC and smartphone demand. DRAM chipmakers, however, were able to keep their gross margins flat last quarter by migrating to cost-efficient technologies, DRAMexchange assistant vice president Ken Kuo (郭祚榮) said. DRAMexchange forecasts the DRAM industry will be worth US$51.2 billion this year, an annual increase of 12 percent. South Korean companies Samsung and SK Hynix respectively took 43 percent and 27 percent of the global DRAM market in the first three months of this year, the researcher said. The US-based DRAM maker Micron Technology Inc grabbed 22.5 percent, it said. Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) seized a 3.2 percent share.
STOCKS
TAIEX closes down
The TAIEX closed lower for a fifth straight session yesterday on weakness in small and medium-cap stocks after a promising start. The market opened just under 1 percent higher as financial stocks benefited from a surge on Wall Street on Friday and an interest rate cut by the People’s Bank of China, but it fell into negative territory within 90 minutes and never recovered. The TAIEX closed down 28.28 points, or 0.29 percent, at 9,663.72 after trading between a high of 9,797.19 and a low of 9,635.88. Turnover was NT$95.76 billion. It was the index’s eighth fall in nine sessions since the TAIEX closed at a 15-year high of 9,973.12 on April 27. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the local market, closed 1.37 percent higher at NT$148.5, while smartphone camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) gained 1.92 percent to close at NT$3,180.
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