ELECTRONICS
Powerchip’s income soars
Local chipmaker Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) yesterday posted 18.41 percent growth in net income for the first six months of this year at NT$5.66 billion (US$175 million), compared with NT$4.78 billion in the same period of last year. The figure indicates that Powerchip is on track to hit its target of making NT$10 billion in net profit this year. Gross margin expanded to 35.9 percent in the first half from 33.65 percent a year ago. The chipmaker’s net value spiked to NT$8.32 per share in the first half, compared with NT$2.46 per share in the corresponding period last year.
RENEWABLES
Neo Solar posts Q2 loss
Solar cell maker Neo Solar Power Corp (新日光) yesterday posted a quarterly loss of NT$784 million for last quarter, compared with a loss of NT$492 million in the first quarter, on persistent price decline, according to company statements. Gross margin decreased to minus 3.32 percent last quarter from minus 2.15 percent in the previous quarter.
In the first half of this year, the company lost NT$1.28 billion, reversing a net profit of NT$794 million in the same period of last year. Looking forward, Neo Solar expects robust demand from China, the US and emerging markets to help boost solar cell prices and its profitability.
SMARTPHONES
Market responds to HTC
HTC Corp (宏達電) rose in Taipei trading after the struggling smartphone maker said it will cut its workforce by 15 percent to reduce costs and turn its business around. Its shares rose 2.8 percent to close at NT$52.10 in Taipei yesterday, outpacing a 0.1 percent drop in the benchmark Taiex index. HTC plans to cut operating expenses by 35 percent as part of a restructuring that will create new business units, it said in a statement Thursday. HTC had 15,685 employees as of March, according to its annual report, meaning it would shed about 2,300 jobs.
BANKING
Bond yields at four-year low
Taiwan’s bonds rose this week, pushing the 10-year yield down the most in four years, and the local dollar fell as the central bank eased monetary policy to spur growth. The authority relaxed mortgage controls and lowered the rates it pays on overnight and 14-day debt to loosen cash supply, after preliminary data released last month showed growth slowed to the lowest level since 2012 in the second quarter. Taiwan is to review its benchmark rate, which it has kept unchanged for 16 quarters, next month. The yield on the 10-year bonds fell 19 basis points this week and three basis points yesterday to 1.204 percent, Taipei Exchange prices show.
AVIATION
New Kaohsiung route
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), Taiwan’s largest carrier, yesterday said that it will launch direct flights between southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung and Changzhou in coastal China on Sept. 16. The flights will be offered every Wednesday and Saturday, using the Embraer regional 190 jet, which seats 104 passengers, the airline said. Starting Oct. 25, the carrier will use Boeing 737-800 jets that can accommodate 158 passengers on the route. Changzhou, located in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, will be the third Chinese destination for Kaohsiung, after Shanghai and Hangzhou cities. CAL will also be the only Taiwanese carrier to operate on the Kaohsiung-Changzhou route.
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
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
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