FOREX RESERVES
Reserves grew last month
The nation’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to US$421.96 billion last month, increasing by US$545 million from one month earlier, the central bank said yesterday. The bank attributed the modest increase to its foreign-exchange management strategy, although a weaker euro and other reserve currencies tempered gains. Altogether, foreign investors held US$277.6 billion worth of local equities and debts, accounting for 66 percent of the foreign exchange reserves, the central bank said.
CAMERAS
Largan sales surged 50%
Largan Precision Industry Co (大立光), a camera lens supplier for Apple Inc, yesterday reported revenue of NT$5.25 billion (US$165.35 million) for last month, up 49.54 percent from a year ago. Last month’s revenue grew 2.94 percent from NT$5.1 billion in the previous month, slightly better than the firm’s guidance of a flattish performance from June. In the first seven months of the year, revenue totaled NT$29.59 billion, jumping 45.54 percent from NT$20.33 a year ago, Largan said. Capital Investment Management Co (群益投顧) forecast that Largan’s revenue this quarter would grow 28.91 percent sequentially to NT$17.75 billion, aided by new orders for Apple’s next-generation iPhone.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Novatek Q2 profit dips
Novatek Microelectronics Corp (聯詠), the nation’s biggest supplier of driver ICs for LCD panels, yesterday reported its lowest earnings in five quarters, as adjustments in product mix and selling prices cut into profit margins last quarter. Second-quarter net income came in at NT$1.49 billion, or earnings per share of NT$2.44, down 15.96 percent from a year ago and 12.62 percent from the previous quarter, Novatek said. Gross margin fell 1.07 percentage points from a quarter ago to 28.05 percent last quarter. The company forecast that sales for this quarter would reach between NT$12.6 billion and NT$13 billion, rising between 1 percent and 4.3 percent from NT$12.46 billion in the second quarter, while gross margin would reach 27 to 28 percent and operating margin would be 12.5 to 13.5 percent.
SEMICONDUCTORS
SPIL sales fall on demand
Siliconware Precision Industrial Co (SPIL, 矽品精密), the world’s second-largest chip packager, yesterday reported that revenue declined 7.6 percent to NT$6.35 billion for last month from NT$6.88 billion in June. SPIL last month predicted that revenue would fall by between 6.78 percent and 12.43 percent this quarter from last quarter’s NT$21.24 billion. The company blamed weak demand for smartphones in emerging markets, PCs and consumer electronics behind the revenue fall. For the first seven months of the year, sales rose 2.15 percent to NT$48.4 billion from NT$47.38 billion in the same period last year, the company said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing.
TELECOMS
Far EasTone ratings cut
Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評) yesterday downgraded its credit rating for telecom operator Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) to “negative” from “stable” amid concern over higher debt after a NT$17.12 billion bond purchase of the nation’s biggest cable operator. The downgrade is in tandem with the rating outlook for Far EasTone’s parent company, Far Eastern New Century Corp (FENC, 遠東新世紀). Taiwan Ratings expects the bond purchase would push up FENC’s debt to EBITDA ratio to above 5 times next year from between 4.5 and 5 times now.
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
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],”