SEMICONDUCTORS
Wafer shipments decrease
Global silicon wafer shipments decreased in the third quarter from the previous quarter, after two consecutive record-breaking quarters, according to statistics released by SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG). Silicon wafers are the fundamental building material for semiconductors. Last quarter, the total surface area of silicon wafer shipments was 2,591 million square inches, down 4.1 percent from the prior quarter’s 2,702 million square inches, SMG data showed last week. However, last quarter’s shipments were flat from 2,597 million square inches in the same period last year, data showed.
CHIPMAKERS
UMC tips revenue boost
Contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday said in a statement that revenue from chips used in automotive applications is expected to double from last year to hundreds of millions of US dollars this year as top-tier customers migrate to more advanced chips. UMC did not specify exact figures in the statement.
BANKING
Land Bank opens in Wuhan
State-owned Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) yesterday opened a branch in Wuhan in China’s Hubei Province to increase services to Taiwanese businesspeople there, the lender said in a statement. The new branch will join forces with its branches in Shanghai and Tianjin to serve customers in China, the lender said. The lender’s Hong Kong branch is scheduled to offer wealth management services next week after gaining approval from financial authorities last month, it said.
SHOPPING
Online activity rises: Visa
Online shopping has become part of daily life, with an increased majority of people in Taiwan having made online purchases in the past 12 months, Visa Inc said yesterday. A survey conducted in May and June among 710 Internet users aged from 18 to 55 showed that 93 percent of respondents have shopped online in the past year, up from the 87 percent in a survey released in February. On average, consumers in Taiwan buy 5.2 goods or services online per year, with the most popular categories being transportation, electronics and fashion, Visa said.
STOCKS
China to expand quotas
China is to expand the trading quota and the number of eligible shares for the Shanghai-Hong Kong stock link, a senior regulator said. China Securities Regulatory Commission vice chairman Fang Xinghai (方星海) made the comments at a seminar posted on the commission’s Web site, which did not give further details. The regulator would also promote a planned link with Shenzhen, he said. The Shanghai link will be expanded once the new trading channel begins, which is unlikely to be this year, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd chief executive officer Charles Li (李小加) said yesterday.
SMART PRODUCTS
Secom, Tatung ink deal
Taiwan Secom Co (中興保全) and Tatung Co (大同) yesterday signed an agreement to jointly tap smart-home and smart-appliance sectors. Secom is a major security service provider, while Tatung is a leading supplier of home appliances in Taiwan. Their tie-up will initially focus on products such as TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators, electric fans and washing machines, with potential business cooperation on the Internet of Things, the companies said.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by