OPTICS
Largan shares drop by limit
Shares of smartphone camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) dropped by the daily maximum of 10 percent yesterday due to the firm’s cautious sales outlook for this month, sending the broader market down 1.09 percent. On Wednesday, Largan reported sales last month rose 2.9 percent to NT$5.26 billion (US$165.6 million) from June, but said guidance for this month’s sales is to be flattish from last month. According to a client note issued by Morgan Stanley, Largan believes this is only a result of model transition, rather than a concern over end-demand. Shares in Largan, a key supplier to Apple Inc, fell NT$300 in Taipei trading to end at NT$2,720.
COMPUTERS
Acer net income plummets
PC maker Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday reported net income of NT$2 million for last quarter, representing a significant decrease from NT$484 million a year ago and NT$173 million in the first quarter. Earnings per share were NT$0.0008 last quarter, compared with last year’s NT$0.18 and the first quarter’s NT$0.06 per share, according to the firm’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The earnings mark Acer’s lowest quarterly net profit over the past five quarters.
CHIP DESIGN
Faraday income falls 6.5%
Faraday Technology Corp (智原), a fabless chip designing service and silicon patent provider, yesterday said net income last quarter dropped by 6.5 percent quarter-on-quarter and 13 percent year-on-year to NT$179 million, or NT$0.43 per share, as clients’ inventory adjustments dragged down its gross margin, which fell to 44.9 percent last quarter from 50.6 percent in the first quarter. For this quarter, Faraday expects revenue to drop by 9 percent to 12 percent from last quarter’s NT$1.75 billion, due to weakening demand for its application-specific integrated circuit design solutions, according to a statement. Gross margin might improve to more than 50 percent this quarter due to product mix adjustments, it said.
MEDIA
Eastern Media shares jump
Shares of Eastern Media International Corp (東森國際) rose by their daily maximum yesterday in Taipei, beating the broader market’s 1.09 percent fall, after the company confirmed its intention to sell all of its stake in local cable network Eastern Broadcasting Co (東森電視). On Wednesday, Eastern Media issued a statement that the company and the US-based Carlyle Group plan to accept a reasonable price for all of their shares in the TV network. US-based Carlyle Group owns a 61 percent stake in Eastern Broadcasting and Eastern Media holds a 21.32 percent stake in the TV network. The share sale would be worth at least NT$20 billion, according to media reports.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Precision Silicon to merge
Precision Silicon Group (嘉晶電子), a major supplier of silicon epitaxial used in semiconductor chips and solar cells, yesterday said its board approved a merger with Episil Semiconductor Wafer Inc (漢磊半導體晶圓) through a share swap. The deal will allow each Episil Semiconductor share to be exchanged for 1.867876 shares of Precision Silicon, which is to be the surviving entity after the merger. The deal is expected to close on Feb. 1 next year, the companies said. Precision Silicon shares fell by 0.97 percent to NT$10.2 in Taipei trading, while shares of Episil Holding Inc (漢磊先進投資控股), the parent company of Episil Semiconductor, dropped by 0.55 percent to NT$7.22.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last