SOLAR ENERGY
Tainergy sees sales growth
Solar cell maker Tainergy Tech Co Ltd (太極能源) yesterday reported a strong annual increase of 36.31 percent in quarterly sales to NT$2.59 billion (US$ 77.93 million) for last quarter, compared with the previous year’s NT$1.9 billion. On a quarterly basis, the result grew 22.16 percent from the third quarter’s revenues of NT$2.12 billion, the firm said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Last quarter’s sales result brought the company’s combined annual revenues to NT$7.82 billion for last year, up 19.4 percent from NT$6.55 billion recorded a year earlier.
ELECTRONICS
Samsung focuses on Taiwan
Samsung Electronics Co yesterday said that it aims to increase its Taiwan revenue by a double-digit percentage this year by offering more value-added services and raising its service quality in retail stores. Gary Tsao (曹紋察), general manager of Samsung Taiwan’s IT and mobile communication team, said that although revenue from Taiwan last year was flat from a year earlier, the firm is still optimistic that sales this year could grow from last year. The company’s revenue is expected to be driven by smartphones, tablets, wearable products and accessories, Tsao told reporters on the sidelines of Samsung’s Galaxy A7 and Galaxy A5 launch event. He declined to disclose the sales figures.
FINANCE
NT dollar dips 0.51%
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday closed down 0.51 percent to trade at NT$33.236 against the greenback, relatively stable compared with the South Korean won’s 1.28 percent decline, the central bank said in a statement. The central bank issued the statement after the local currency dropped to a three-month low on the first trading session of this year. The depreciation came after foreign institutional investors cut local shares by NT$13.94 billion and mutual funds by NT$287.94 million, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Proprietary traders had overbought positions of NT$439.93 million.
MANUFACTURING
Ichia sales plunge 33.86%
Keypad manufacturer Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) yesterday reported sales of NT$1.66 billion for last quarter, a significant plunge of 33.86 percent from NT$2.51 billion a year earlier. The quarterly result also represents a 12.16 percent decline from the third quarter’s NT$1.89 billion. In the first three quarters of last year, the firm’s net income totaled NT$49.39 million, plunging 94.31 percent from NT$869.17 million made over the same period of time in the previous year. The keypad maker’s combined revenues totaled NT$7.38 billion last year, plummeting 34.24 percent from NT$11.22 billion made a year ago.
PHARMACEUTICALS
China grants BioFirst patent
BioFirst Co (匯特生技) yesterday said its newly developed surgical fluid for eye operations has gained patent approval from the Chinese authority, following approvals from Taiwan, Australia, Canada and Japan. The firm said the patent approval from China is valid through 2031, which is expected to help the firm tap into the Chinese and other Asian markets. The Taiwanese biotech company said it is still waiting for the US and European countries to offer a green light to its eye operation surgical fluid in the regions. The company is set to gain a technological advantage in the global market with more patent approvals, it said.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to