AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) yesterday posted the first quarterly loss in 10 quarters, primarily due to a massive asset impairment loss from its solar business and price declines driven by oversupply.
In the quarter ending Dec. 31 last year, the nation’s No. 2 LCD panel maker swung into a loss of NT$8.24 billion (US$244.2 million), compared with a net profit of NT$3.38 billion in the previous quarter. The company booked NT$6.7 billion in asset impairment loss from M. Setek Co, which makes solar wafers and modules in Japan.
The panelmaker drifted into an operating loss of NT$1.17 billion last quarter, from an operating income of NT$3.39 billion in the previous quarter. Average selling prices tumbled about 13 percent sequentially last quarter to US$385 per square meter.
For the entirety of last year, AUO made a net profit of NT$4.84 billion, down 74 percent from NT$18.07 billion in 2014.
AUO cited the staggering global economy, decelerating growth in emerging markets and volatility in developing nations’ currencies as reasons for sluggish demand for LCD panels.
This year, no significant improvement is on the horizon, AUO said.
“Overall, market demand is stabilizing. However, we do not see a robust growth momentum yet. We do not anticipate a significant improvement in the macroeconomic situation this year,” AUO chairman Paul Peng (彭双浪) told investors.
Peng also said that oversupply in the LCD market would be a “new norm,” as Chinese LCD manufacturers continue to ramp up production.
To minimize the adverse affects of overcapacity on its bottom line, AUO plans to boost revenue portion of its non-commodity panels to more than 40 percent this year from 30 percent last year, Peng said. Non-commodity panels include those used in commercial, medical, or automotive industries, he said.
As Apple Inc is expected to use OLED panels for new-generation iPhones, AUO ’s progress in developing OLED technology caught the attention of investors.
Peng said handset segment would not be the main focus, given heavy investments and low yield rate. AUO would only focus on making high-resolution displays used in premium products, such as smart watches and virtual reality devices, he said.
Short-term outlook also appears bleak, Peng said.
“The first quarter is a traditional low season. We expect weakness to extend into the current quarter,” he said.
“The bright spot is that the first quarter will be the trough this year and our operation will improve quarter by quarter,” Peng said.
AUO said it plans to cut equipment loading rate to cope with weak demand from the more than 80 percent last quarter.
Shipments of PC and TV panels are expected to shrink by low-teens and mid-teens sequentially this quarter, while price decline would be less steep, AUO forecast.
AUO plans to spend NT$45 billion on new equipment this year, up from last year’s NT$33.4 billion.
It is to finance a new 6G production line in China to make high-resolution LTPS panels and a capacity expansion in Taiwan.
The Chinese production line is to start in the second half this year.
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
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
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