SEMICONDUCTORS
Win order visibility limited
Win Semiconductors Corp (穩懋半導體) yesterday said its order visibility is limited to about a month, as some of its clients are going through product transitions while others are digesting inventories. As a result, the company, which provides foundry services for gallium arsenide components used in handsets, forecast that revenue for this quarter would decline by a high single-digit percentage from last quarter’s NT$3.098 billion (US$97.8 million). Win’s second-quarter net profit declined by 13 percent from the first quarter to NT$537 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.72. The company said it expects gross margins this quarter to remain at the same level as the first half, as it continues its product diversification efforts.
PERIPHERALS
Adlink profit hit by expenses
Industrial computer peripherals supplier Adlink Technology Inc (凌華) yesterday said that its second-quarter net profit dropped by 13.5 percent from the previous quarter and 17.5 percent from a year earlier to NT$165 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.82, due to higher operating expenses. Gross and operating margins declined to 39.9 percent and 9.2 percent respectively last quarter, although consolidated sales increased to NT$2.39 billion annually and quarterly, the company said in a statement. For this quarter, Adlink said revenue would be lower than last quarter because of seasonal factors, but the North American market would still be its key growth driver, ahead of Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, to generate NT$30 billion in sales this year.
DISPLAYMAKERS
Chairman buys TPK stock
TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) chairman Michael Chiang (江朝瑞) yesterday bought 300,000 company shares as a show of support and to safeguard shareholders’ interest, the touchpanel supplier for Apple Inc’s iPad and Watch said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The stock yesterday closed 10 percent lower at NT$108 before the company disclosed the purchase. TPK shares fell 14.89 percent this week after the company on Wednesday reported losses of NT$618 million for last quarter and an 18 percent sequential decline in sales to NT$23.7 billion.
FOOTWEAR
Fulgent to buy back shares
Fulgent Sun International Holding Co (鈺齊國際), which produces outdoor shoes, yesterday said its board approved a stock buyback plan, which begins on Monday and is to run until Sept. 30. The stock yesterday closed 3.03 percent lower at NT$32 before the company disclosed the plan. Share prices have dropped 32.56 percent since the beginning of the year. The board agreed to buy back up to 4 million shares, or 3.02 percent of its issued capital, at a price of between NT$32 and NT$50 on the open market, Fulgent said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company plans to spend up to NT$3.89 billion on the buyback, the filing said.
BONDS
Yields fall on weak GDP
Taiwanese bonds rose yesterday, pushing the 10-year yield to a two-year low, after government data showed the economy slowed down sharply in the second quarter. GDP increased 0.64 percent last quarter from a year earlier, a government report showed. The yield on sovereign notes due in 2025 dropped 3 basis points to 1.442 percent, Taipei Exchange prices showed. That was the lowest since July 2013. The yield fell six basis points last month, its third monthly decline.
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