HANDSETS
No hiring freeze: Pegatron
Pegatron Corp (和碩), one of Apple Inc’s iPhone assemblers, yesterday said that its operations were normal and that it had not stopped recruiting workers in China. The company’s remarks came after Chinese media outlet IT Times reported that the Taiwanese manufacturer had imposed a hiring freeze due to the dim outlook for iPhone 6S sales. Pegatron said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange that its production capacity and workforce allocation are proceeding as planned as it is the peak season. The company also reiterated that it expects its performance this quarter to be better than the last quarter.
HANDSETS
ZenFone sales hit 3 million
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday said that its local smartphone sales have reached 3 million units since the launch of its first ZenFone product in April last year. To celebrate its robust domestic performance, Asustek is to launch a “buy one, get one free” promotion for its ZenFone 2 Laser phones from Friday to Nov. 13, the company said. Asustek aims to ship 21 million smartphones this year. It has sold 13.5 million units in the first three quarters of the year.
NOTEBOOKS
Acer jumps to fifth place
Acer Inc (宏碁) saw its notebook shipments jump 13.8 percent from the second quarter as it stepped up sales to North America and Europe, TrendForce data showed. This helped Acer surpass Asustek to rank fifth worldwide in the quarter ending September. Meanwhile, Asustek’s (華碩) notebook shipments plunged 15.3 percent from a quarter earlier, TrendForce said, attributing it to the company’s inventory and product mix adjustments.
EQUITIES
TAIEX edges up 0.7%
Taiwanese shares yesterday closed above the 8,600-point mark, driven mainly by the electronics and financial sectors, dealers said. The TAIEX closed 60.46 points, or 0.71 percent, higher at 8,614.77, after moving between 8,524.01 and 8,614.77. Turnover totalled NT$77.74 billion (US$2.38 billion). The gains were led by electronics and financial stocks, which rose 0.88 percent and 0.53 percent respectively. Largan Precision Co (大立光), the most expensive stock on the market, jumped 4.14 percent to close at NT$2,640. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the market, gained 0.73 percent to end at NT$137.50. In the financial sector, Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) finished up 0.65 percent at NT$46.70, Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) climbed 0.76 percent to NT$53.10 and CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) rose 1.12 percent to NT$18.05. Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$3.98 billion worth of shares.
UNITED STATES
Visa to buy Visa Europe
Visa Inc, the world’s largest payments network, agreed to acquire Visa Europe Ltd in a deal valued at as much as 21.2 billion euros (US$23.4 billion) to unify the brand globally after eight years as separate companies. The transaction includes a 16.5 billion-euro upfront consideration. The purchase ends years of speculation among analysts about whether the companies, which split in 2007 ahead of the US firm’s initial public offering, would reunite.
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],”