ELECTRONICS
Apple cuts spending
Apple Inc cut US$1 billion from its capital spending forecast as iPhone sales and revenue forecast fell short of analysts’ expectations. Spending on areas including product tooling, data centers and retail facilities will be US$12 billion this fiscal year, about 8 percent lower than its previous forecast, the US company said in a filing on Wednesday. The projections compare with US$9.6 billion in the last fiscal year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Spending is to decrease because of efficiency measures on tooling equipment and facilities, and not because of changes to product plans, according to the company.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Supply chain faces risk
Qualcomm Inc’s latest earnings results do not bode well for the overall semiconductor outsourcing supply chain, with inventory digestion likely to last another several months, Yuanta Securities Co (元大證券) analyst George Chang (張家麒) said in a note yesterday. On Wednesday, the US mobile chip supplier said it was slashing its workforce by 15 percent after net profit declined 47 percent annually to US$1.2 billion in the past quarter and revenue dropped 14 percent to US$5.8 billion. “The smartphone market will continue to see slow growth, and the overall semiconductor supply chain will have to focus on new growth drivers,” Chang wrote. “Luckily for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co [TSMC, 台積電], it can benefit from Apple’s new chips.” TSMC shares fell 2.16 percent to NT$136 in Taipei trading yesterday.
ELECTRONICS
UMT expects shipments rise
Universal Microwave Technology Inc (UMT, 昇達科), which supplies electronic parts and materials for broadband wireless communications, yesterday said shipments this quarter are expected to continue growing after several countries started setting up 4G base stations. In addition, demand for millimeter-wave products is on the rise, suggesting more upside growth to the company’s revenue in the second half, vice president Kuo Chun-liang (郭俊良) said at an investors’ conference organized by Taipei Exchange (TPEx, 櫃檯買賣中心). Revenue in the first half rose 8.44 percent from a year earlier to NT$669.56 million (US$21.29 million), company data showed. Analysts said growth momentum should be sustained into next year on the back of the outsourcing trend in the US, Europe and Japan.
ELECTRONICS
Samsung names replacement
Samsung Electronics Taiwan Co (台灣三星) yesterday said it had appointed Gary Tsao (曹紋察) to serve as general manager of the company’s information technology and mobile communication team, replacing Andy Tu (杜偉昱), who left the post in May. Tsao, who has been general manager of the company’s consumer electronics team since June last year, is to assume the new post on Saturday next week, Samsung Taiwan said.
SOUTH KOREA
Economy slows in Q2
The nation’s economy slowed in the second quarter, with consumer spending stifled by an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome and exports failing to lift from a lengthening slump. The economy grew 0.3 percent in the April-to-June period from the previous quarter, down from 0.8 percent in the first quarter, the Bank of Korea said yesterday. The economy expanded 2.2 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier — the slowest pace for more than two years and below analysts’ forecasts.
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