ECONOMY
Growth likely slowed
Taiwan’s economic growth likely slowed sharply this year because of a slower pace of growth in the Asia region, UBS AG said yesterday in a research report, while cutting its GDP growth forecast by half from a 2.3 percent estimate it made earlier this year. Switzerland’s biggest bank said the nation’s GDP probably increased at a 1.2 percent annual rate this year, less than the 1.56 percent predicted by the government in August. However, GDP could stage a mild recovery next year by expanding 2.4 percent annually, UBS said. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics is to update its third-quarter GDP growth and full-year economic growth forecasts today.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Win expects sales rise
Win Semiconductors Corp (穩懋半導體) yesterday forecast its sales for this quarter would be higher than last quarter’s NT$2.913 billion (US$88.66 million) as the company expects clients’ inventory correction issues should be resolved by the end of the year. The foundry services provider of gallium arsenide components used in handsets said sales will probably increase between 5 percent and 10 percent from last quarter, with gross margin to stay flat at 40.4 percent. Win Semiconductors reported net income of NT$805 million for last quarter, up 7 percent from a year earlier, with earnings per share of NT$1.32. In the first three quarters, cumulative earnings per share reached NT$2.81, the company said.
CHIPMAKERS
Macronix losses continue
Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), which supplies memory chips to Japanese video game console maker Nintendo Co, yesterday posted a third-quarter loss — its 15th quarterly loss in a row — though losses shrank on a quarterly basis. The Hsinchu-based company posted a net loss of NT$949 million, or NT$0.27 per share, last quarter, 22 percent less than the previous quarter. The firm said its gross margin rose 2 percentage points to 14 percent from the second quarter due to better product mix, with revenue increasing 14 percent to NT$5.65 billion. In the first three quarters, Macronix reported losses of NT$0.72 per share. The company said it expects turnaround in the second half of next year.
COMPUTER MAKERS
Outlook improved: Asustek
Asustek Computer Inc chairman Jonney Shih (施崇棠) yesterday said the outlook for the global PC industry seems better than expected this quarter, without elaborating. Shih’s remarks, made on the sidelines of a summit for business leaders in Taiwan, came after International Data Corp and Gartner Inc reported earlier this month sharp declines in third-quarter PC shipments worldwide, countering hopes that the release of Microsoft Corp’s Windows 10 operating system might spur demand.
CHEMICALS
Sunko merger announced
Sunko Ink Co (三晃), which is principally engaged in the manufacture and distribution of chemical products, yesterday said that its board had agreed to merge with Kuo Ching Chemical Co (國慶). Sunko is to be the surviving entity, it said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing. The company is planning to issue 145 million new shares to facilitate the share-swap deal, in which Kuo Ching shareholders are to receive 1.6 Sunko shares for every one Kuo Ching share. The deal is expected to be closed on May 10 next year, Sunko said.
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],”