TECHNOLOGY
Asustek to sell ASMedia stock
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday said it plans to sell 1.5 million shares of subsidiary ASMedia Technology Inc (祥碩科技) in a bid to increase the IC designer’s liquidity in the stock market. ASMedia shares dropped 2.53 percent to close at NT$270 in Taipei trading yesterday, underperforming the TAIEX, which edged down 0.22 percent. Asustek said in a statement that after selling the shares, its holdings in ASMedia would decline from 56.23 percent to 53.57 percent. The company might further reduce its holding in ASMedia to below 50 percent in the foreseeable future, it said.
BANKING
Tong Yang bid approved
The Philippine central bank has approved Yuanta Commercial Bank’s (元大銀行) plan to acquire 100 percent of Tong Yang Savings Bank shares, making it the first foreign subsidiary of the Taiwanese bank, according to a statement issued by Yuanta. Tong Yang Savings Bank is a subsidiary of Tongyang Group of South Korea, with a 0.14 percent market share there. In November last year, Yuanta Bank’s board approved a proposal to acquire the South Korean group’s Philippine lender for 12.2 billion won (US$10.86 million).
TECHNOLOGY
Ennoconn sales up 149%
Computer peripheral device supplier Ennoconn Corp (樺漢) yesterday reported sales of NT$938.67 million, up 16.02 percent month-on-month and 149 percent year-on-year, thanks to support from parent company Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and synergy from its recent merger-and-acquisition activities. That enabled the company to report record-high quarterly sales of NT$2.61 billion in the second quarter. Ennoconn president Chu Fu-chuan (朱復銓) said sales in the second half should be better than the NT$4.999 billion it made in the first six months, with a sales split of 45-55 or even 40-60 for the first and second halves of the year. The company supplies POS/ATM systems, network products, industrial automation systems, as well as game consoles.
TELECOMS
Arima monthly sales pick up
Following disappointing sales in April and May, contract handset maker Arima Communication Corp (華冠通訊) saw its sales momentum recover last month after major clients launched new models. Arima counts big firms such as Sony Corp and LG Electronics Co among its clients. The company yesterday reported revenues of NT$1.79 billion for last month, up 23.2 percent from a year ago and 54.6 percent from the prior month. In the first half of the year, cumulative revenue totaled NT$9.15 billion, down 27.03 percent from the same period last year.
GAMING
X-Legend sales up 23.3%
Online game publisher X-Legend Entertainment Co (傳奇網路) yesterday reported stronger-than-expected sales of NT$115.47 million last month, in which the company’s MMORPG skill/stat points generated about NT$980 million and royalty revenues abroad came in at NT$170 million. Last month’s sales rose 23.3 percent year-on-year and 18.89 percent from the previous month, which the company attributed to the launch of new game title Astral Realm on June 11. The company’s sales for the first six months of the year totaled NT$589.39 million, down 12.1 percent from a year earlier. However, X-Legend said it is looking to the upcoming publication of several new titles to boost its sales in the second half of the year.
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
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts