CHIPMAKERS
SPIL net income falls
Chip packager and tester Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) yesterday reported that net income declined 17.73 percent to NT$2.68 billion (US$81.37 million) last quarter from NT$3.26 billion a year earlier. Last quarter’s figure also dropped by 27.06 percent from the previous quarter’s NT$3.68 billion, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Earnings per share were NT$0.86 last quarter, it said. With weak demand for smartphones in emerging markets, PCs and consumer electronics, the company’s consolidated revenue fell 7.5 percent year-on-year and 5.7 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$20.03 billion. For the first nine months of the year, total revenue edged up 0.7 percent to NT$62.07 billion from NT$61.64 billion in the same period last year, the company said.
PANEL MAKERS
Radiant Opto revenue rises
Radiant Opto-Electronics Corp (瑞儀光電), a supplier of LCD backlight modules for Apple Inc’s iPads, yesterday said revenue rose by 45.1 percent year-on-year and 33.4 percent month-on-month to NT$6.87 billion last month, the highest monthly figure in nearly three years. From July to last month, the company said revenue totaled NT$15.49 billion, up 18.9 percent annually and 66.4 percent quarterly. Analysts expect Radiant Opto’s shipments to peak this month, after the company started ramping up production of large-sized iPads last month, leading its revenue to move higher this quarter.
SOLAR WAFERS
Gigastorage sales surge
Solar wafer maker Gigastorage Corp (國碩科技) yesterday reported record sales for last quarter and said its current order visibility is about one to two months. The company said its sales continued to increase to NT$1.84 billion last month, leading its quarterly sales to hit NT$5.22 billion last quarter, up 25.97 percent from the previous quarter.
CHIPMAKERS
Epistar reports weak sales
LED chipmaker Epistar Corp (晶元光電) yesterday reported weaker-than-expected quarterly sales of NT$6.16 billion for last quarter, a plunge of 19.16 percent from a year previous and 8.87 percent quarterly. The result missed Primasia Securities’ forecast of NT$6.9 billion for last quarter. From January to last month, cumulative sales totaled NT$19.59 billion, down 10.93 percent year-on-year.
REAL ESTATE
Prince Housing sales rise
Prince Housing and Development Corp (太子建設) yesterday said sales rose 22 percent from the previous month to NT$821.7 million last month, but the figure dropped 26.54 percent from a year earlier, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. From January through last month, total revenue fell by 16.95 percent year-on-year to NT$8.04 billion, affirming a sluggish property market.
AVIATION
EVA inks Airbus deal
Standard Chartered Bank and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) yesterday inked a sale and operating leaseback agreement over two Airbus 330-300 aircraft. The agreement came after EVA in March announced the introduction of two A330-300 aircraft by selling them to Pembroke Capital Ltd — Standard Chartered’s aviation finance team based in Ireland — and leasing them back for operation to give the Taiwanese carrier greater operational flexibility.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained