TELECOMS
Vee Time to drop WiMAX
Vee Time Corp (威達雲端) plans to terminate its WiMAX business due to massive losses, the company said yesterday. It said it was considering selling its WiMAX assets to recover some losses, after reporting NT$1.08 billion (US$35.05 million) in losses last year. As of the end of last quarter, Vee Time had accumulated 460,000 subscribers. The company’s latest announcement comes as its WiMAX license is set to expire at the end of this year. The National Communications Commission is set to auction the spectrum used by local WiMAX operators in the fourth quarter of this year. The WiMAX operator’s sales for last month declined 30.84 percent from a year earlier to NT$38.36 million.
CHIPMAKERS
UMC raises US$600m
United Microelectronics Co (UMC, 聯電) has raised US$600 million by issuing convertible bonds overseas, as the chipmaker plans to use the proceeds to purchase manufacturing equipment. The company yesterday said in a statement that the bonds, traded on Singapore exchange, would be converted into common shares at NT$17.5 per share, when they mature on May 18, 2020. That represents a 25 percent premium from UMC’s closing price of NT$14 on Monday.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Richtek income up on year
Richtek Technology Corp (立錡), the nation’s top analog integrated circuit designer, yesterday said its net income rose 10 percent from a year earlier to NT$377 million last quarter, although the figure dropped 3.8 percent from the previous quarter, with earnings per share of NT$2.55. The company said its sales guidance for this quarter is in a range from falling 2.1 percent sequentially to increasing 7.2 percent from last quarter’s NT$3.17 billion, which is better than many local semiconductor firms at the time when the sector is going through an inventory adjustment. Gross margin may range between 34 percent and 37 percent this quarter, compared with 36.8 percent last quarter, while operating margin is expected to stay between 12 percent and 15 percent, Richtek said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Positive outlook for Win
Win Semiconductors Corp (穩懋半導體) yesterday said the company’s factory utilization rate for this quarter would be higher than last quarter’s 80 percent, with order visibility of about four to six weeks. As the April-to-June quarter is the peak season for cellular-related and WiFi-related products, Win’s revenue proportions from these products could climb quarter-on-quarter, driving up its second-quarter utilization rate to 90 percent, Capital Securities Corp (群益證券) said in a note. Win, which provides foundry services for gallium arsenide components used in handsets, forecast a double-digit percentage increase in revenue this quarter, compared with NT$2.81 billion last quarter.
AUTOMAKERS
Shares up on dividend news
Shares in Yulon Nissan Motor Co (裕隆日產) surged yesterday after the Nissan and Infiniti car distributor announced a cash dividend of NT$30 per share on last year’s earnings per share of NT$21.75. The cash dividend translates into a dividend yield of 9.29 percent based on Monday’s closing share price of NT$323. The company’s shares ended 5.88 percent higher yesterday at NT$342. In the first quarter of the year, Yulon Nissan reported net income of NT$1.03 billion, or NT$3.42 per share, with revenue of NT$9.04 billion, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Monday.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks