RESERVES
Nation’s coffers increase
Foreign-exchange reserves totaled US$428.82 billion last month, increasing by US$2.84 billion month-on-month, the central bank said yesterday. The bank attributed the increase to its foreign-exchange management, while a stronger euro and other reserve currencies boosted gains. Altogether, foreign investors held US$252.2 billion in equities and debt, accounting for 59 percent of the reserves, the central bank said.
MANUFACTURING
Sector remains ‘blue’
The manufacturing sector gauge flashed “blue” for the 10th consecutive month in January, indicating a decline in sentiment, the latest data from the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台經院) showed yesterday. However, the slowing decline in the composite index of the sector — which dropped 0.15 points to 9.4 in January, compared with the previous month’s 0.22 point decline — indicated that sentiment was improving, the report said.
CASINGS
Catcher revenues dip
Catcher Technology Co (可成), which supplies metal casings for Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$4.17 billion (US$126 million) for last month, down 33.1 percent from the previous month’s NT$6.23 billion and 7.5 percent lower than the previous year’s NT$4.51 billion. Cumulative sales in the first two months of this year reached NT$10.398 billion, 0.7 percent lower than a year earlier.
ELECTRONICS
HTC monthly sales fall
Smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday said its sales last month dropped to NT$4.2 billion from NT$6.48 billion in January. It was the lowest monthly result since its listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in March 2002. On an annual basis, sales last month reflected a 54.5 percent decline, with accumulated sales during the first two months contracting by 50.3 percent year-on-year to NT$10.68 billion.
PANEL MAKERS
TPK revenues down
TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) yesterday posted revenue of NT$5.41 billion for last month, 25.9 percent lower than the previous year and 39.3 percent down from January due to fewer working days. That brought revenue in the first two months to NT$14.33 billion, down 21.87 percent from the same period last year, the company said.
APPAREL
Makalot revenue up 11.5%
Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽), a garment manufacturer for global clothing brands, on Thursday said its revenue grew 11.5 percent to NT$1.77 billion last month from a year earlier, bringing cumulative revenue for the first two months of the year to NT$4.11 billion, a 15.35 percent year-on-year increase. Daiwa Capital Markets Inc said Makalot’s revenue might continue to grow, but the foreign-exchange rate would likely result in an unfavorable environment in the short term.
GAMING
X-Legend sales surge
Online game publisher X-Legend Entertainment Co (傳奇網路) on Thursday said its consolidated sales reached NT$1.06 billion last month, up 37.58 percent from January, but down 5.44 percent from the previous year. The company attributed its monthly sales growth to higher sales of new products during the Lunar New Year holiday and an increasing contribution from royalties. Total sales for the first two months reached NT$1.83 billion, down 10.61 percent year-on-year.
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