ELECTRONICS
Ennoconn, Kontron team up
Computer peripheral device supplier Ennoconn Corp (樺漢) yesterday entered a strategic partnership with Kontron AG, a leading global provider of embedded computer technology, to take advantage of a rapidly changing technological world, especially the rapid development of the Internet of Things market. Ennoconn said in a regulatory filing that its subsidiary, Ennoconn Investment Holdings Co, has acquired a 49 percent stake in Kontron Canada Inc for US$57.3 million. The transaction is still subject to regulatory and corporate approvals, which are expected to be granted early this year, said Ennoconn, which is a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密).
ELECTRONICS
Apex net profit rises 25%
Printed circuit board (PCB) supplier Apex International Co (泰鼎) yesterday reported a net profit of NT$534 million for last year, or earnings per share of NT$4.36. The company had a net income of NT$427.3 million in 2014, or NT$4.06 per share. Revenue totaled NT$8.63 billion last year, up 17.13 percent from 2014. Apex International is the parent company of Thailand’s second-largest PCB firm, Apex Circuit (Thailand) Co. The company said it expects sales from the automotive industry to continue driving its business growth this year.
CHEMICALS
Goldman predicts growth
Companies in Taiwan’s chemicals sector might see their earnings grow by an average of 5 percent this year and between 7 and 8 percent in the next two years, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said in a client note yesterday, citing further declines in oil prices and a weaker New Taiwan dollar. Goldman said companies’ core EBITDA — earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortization — could see a 3 percent boost on average this year should Brent oil prices drop to US$20 per barrel, while core EBITDA could see a 2 percent increase if the local currency trades at NT$34.5 per US dollar. Goldman has “buy” recommendations on Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) and Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), but maintains its “sell” rating on China Steel Chemical (中鋼碳素) because of margin contraction for its products.
SEMICONDUCTORS
ChipMOS announces merger
ChipMOS Technologies Inc (南茂) on Thursday said the company had decided to merge with its parent company, ChipMOS Technologies (Bermuda) Ltd, to simplify and streamline the group structure and reduce operating costs. The US$101 million deal — at US$19.77 per share — is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. It also aims to enhance operating efficiency and achieve a more efficient tax structure, the companies said in a statement. Once it receives approvals from shareholders and regulators, the Taiwanese chip packaging and testing unit will become the surviving entity, according to the statement. The deal comes after ChipMOS announced last month that it would sell a 25 percent stake to China’s Tsinghua Unigroup (清華紫光) for NT$11.9 billion.
ELECTRONICS
Merry stake sale approved
Shareholders of audio electronics maker Merry Electronics Co (美律) yesterday approved a company plan to sell a 25 percent stake to Chinese connector supplier Luxshare Precision Industry Co (立訊). The company plans to sell 63 million shares to Luxshare at NT$60 per share. The NT$3.78 billion deal, which is subject to approval by the Investment Commission, will make Luxshare Merry’s largest shareholder with three seats on the Taiwanese company’s seven-member board.
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