AVIATION
China Airlines sales down
China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), the nation’s largest carrier, reported that its sales last year declined 3.2 percent to NT$145.04 billion (US$4.3 billion). Sales last month gained 3.34 percent sequentially to NT$11.74 billion, but were 9.57 percent lower year-on-year. EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) reported a 3.06 percent annual rise in sales last year to NT$137.17 billion, with sales in the previous month, reaching NT$12.08 billion, gaining 7.25 percent month-on-month and rising 0.96 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, amid a continued tumble in international oil prices, EVA Airways reported that it has incurred NT$3.5 billion in unrealized losses from its hedging derivative contracts. China Airlines said that its losses were limited to NT$288 million due to its much smaller hedging portfolio.
SMARTPHONES
4G initiative boosts Asustek
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) is the biggest beneficiary of a government initiative aimed at boosting consumption by incentivizing mobile phone users to upgrade to 4G from 2G networks. According to Ministry of Economic Affairs data, purchases of Asus-brand smartphones have captured 43.5 percent of subsidies allocated for the initiative, followed by InFocus Corp at about 20 percent, and HTC Corp (宏達電) at about 15 percent. The ministry said that as most 2G users are older, they tend to steer away from smartphones made by top brands, such as Sony and Apple. Most 2G subscribers who took advantage of the initiative are Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the ministry added.
ELECTRONICS
Pegatron relaxed on growth
Pegatron Corp (和碩) chairman Tung Tsu-hsien (童子賢) yesterday said he is not worried about Pegatron’s business performance in the slow season, as the company’s annual revenues jumped nearly 20 percent annually to NT$1.21 trillion last year amid the weak global economy. “It was stressful to seek such high annual growth in sales for Pegatron employees. We will not irrationally to continue pursuing high expansion and growth,” Tung told reporters after he showed up to support Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), Taipei. Tung said the company is expected to reward employees with more year-end bonuses.
FINANCE
Regulators warn on ETFs
Financial regulators issued a warning to brokerages who were advertising exchange traded funds (ETF) as a method of evading a 20 percent tax on dividend income for their clients. The Financial Supervisory Commission said it found that investors would weigh in heavily into ETFs prior to June, only to liquidate holdings after October, which coincided with the typical dividend payout season during the five-month period. The commission said it will crack down on overt advertising by brokerages, and asked dealers to deny suspicious purchase request by clients. In addition, the commission will require certain ETFs to raise the number of annual dividend payouts from one to two.
SMARTPHONES
Ichia earnings plunge 90%
Smartphone keypad manufacturer Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) reported that its pre-tax earnings last year had declined by about 90 percent annually to NT$560 million, with sales falling 34.24 percent year-on-year to NT$7.38 billion, amid rising competition from China and sluggish demand for non-Apple Inc products. The firm’s shares yesterday closed flat at NT$13, lower than its book value of NT$22.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last