PANEL MAKERS
TPK Holding results mixed
TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) yesterday reported that revenue decreased 18.1 percent to NT$8.91 billion (US$286.8 million) last month from the previous year, but rose 13.9 percent from April. That brought revenue in the first five months of the year to NT$45.68 billion, down 1.79 percent from the same period last year. The nation’s top touchpanel maker last month said revenue could drop by between 15 percent and 20 percent from last quarter’s NT$28.9 billion, as demand dwindles following major smartphone and tablet clients’ product transitions. Sales would recover in the second half amid the launch of clients’ new products, TPK said.
SOLAR ENERGY
Green Energy sales rise
Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技) yesterday said high utilization rates and rising shipments pushed sales to expand 0.5 percent year-on-year and 12 percent month-on-month to NT$1.188 billion last month. The nation’s biggest solar wafer maker by capacity said that factory utilization was more than 95 percent last month. Cumulative sales from January to last month grew 3.7 percent from a year earlier to NT$6.279 billion, according to the firm’s filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
SHIPBUILDING
CSBC sales decline
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (CSBC, 台灣國際造船) yesterday said the delivery of three 14,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit container vessels were delayed to this month, causing sales last month to decline 12.33 percent from a year earlier and 5.3 percent lower than the previous month to NT$1.59 billion. Sales for the first five months of the year totaled NT$9.07 billion, down 16.41 percent year-on-year, the nation’s only listed shipbuilder said in a stock exchange filing.
AIRLINES
EVA signs code-sharing pact
Star Alliance members EVA Airways Corp (EVA, 長榮航空) and Turkish Airlines Inc have signed a code-sharing agreement on the Taipei-Istanbul route, effective yesterday. Turkish Airlines runs daily flights on its Istanbul-Taipei route, while EVA, the nation’s second-largest carrier, is to launch services on the route next year. The pact allows EVA to place its marketing code on these Turkish Airlines flights as the first stage of the cooperation. The two airlines hope to use Istanbul as a hub for flights to other major cities in Europe. Turkish Airlines flies to 226 international destinations, including 100 in Europe.
LOGISTICS
FedEx’s 7-Eleven ties grow
FedEx Express on Wednesday said it had extended services to more than 5,000 7-Eleven stores operated by President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商) to exploit the booming e-commerce market in Taiwan. This brings FedEx Express’s retail service points in the nation to more than 6,300, including 1,300 FedEx-authorized bases at Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政) offices, Eslite Bookstores (誠品書店), Kodak Express stores (柯達快速彩色沖印) and Sir Speedy service centers.
INVESTMENT
Fitch gives Taipower ‘A+’
Fitch Ratings Ltd yesterday assigned a long-term bond issue rating of “A+” to Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), saying its credit outlook is stable. Taipower is seen as irreplaceable in ensuring Taiwan’s power security and supplying affordable electricity, the agency said. While Taipower’s financial fundamentals are weak, the state-run utility faces no near-term market liberalization of the electricity sector, Fitch said.
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