CHIPMAKERS
TSMC posts monthly slide
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported that its revenue last month rose by 15.4 percent from a year earlier, but fell 6.9 percent from the previous month to NT$70.155 billion (US$2.25 billion). That brought the world’s largest contract chipmaker’s combined revenue in April and last month to NT$122.68 billion, about 71 percent of the chipmaker’s revenue forecast of between NT$204 billion and NT$207 billion for the current quarter. In the first five months of the year, cumulative revenue grew by 35.7 percent to NT$367.518 billion from the same period last year, TSMC said in a statement.
CHIPMAKERS
ASE monthly sales rise 6.1%
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) on Tuesday said consolidated sales rose by 16.2 percent from a year earlier to NT$23.36 billion last month and were up 6.1 percent from the previous month. However, sales of the company’s core businesses — including IC packaging and assembly testing — dropped 7 percent year-on-year and 0.6 percent month-on-month to NT$12.499 billion last month. Sales in the first five months of the year increased by 17.29 percent to NT$110.05 billion from the same period last year, ASE said in a statement.
LEASING SERVICES
Chailease sales up 8.49%
Chailease Holding Co (中租控股), the nation’s top leasing services provider, yesterday said that domestic sales increased significantly last month, boosting total sales to 8.49 percent growth from a year earlier to NT$2.978 billion. Sales expanded by 18 percent annually last month in Taiwan and advanced 4 percent in China and Thailand, it said. In the first five months of the year, cumulative sales were 3.8 percent higher than the same period last year at NT$14.43 billion, a company statement said.
AUTOMOTIVE PARTS
Tong Yang profit outlook dim
Tong Yang Industry Co (東陽實業), which makes auto parts such as bumpers and hoods, is forecast to see net profit this quarter drop by 52.1 percent year-on-year to NT$125 million, due to a US$6.7 million antitrust settlement and a NT$74 million foreign-exchange loss, Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) said in a client note. Tong Yang’s revenue for this quarter is expected to grow just 6 percent year-on-year to NT$5.64 billion due to mild growth in both the aftermarket business in North America and the original equipment manufacturing market in China, Fubon wrote. Tong Yang yesterday said revenue for last month fell by 2.49 percent annually to NT$1.79 billion, with cumulative revenue from January to last month totaling NT$9.32 billion, up 5.27 percent from a year earlier.
ELECTRONICS
Synnex sales fall 10 percent
Synnex Technology International Corp (聯強國際) yesterday said its consolidated sales in the first five months of the year fell 10 percent from a year earlier to NT$117.7 billion, after last month’s sales showed a decrease of 15 percent year-on-year to NT$21.9 billion. Asia’s largest distributor of technology products and electronics components said annual sales grew by 14 percent in the communications business in the first five months. However, overall sales in the same period were dented by strong declines of between 8 percent and 23 percent in other businesses, such as information technology products, consumer electronics and semiconductor components, Synnex said in a statement.
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