FOOD & BEVERAGE
Gourmet doubles income
Gourmet Master Co (美食達人), the operator of cafe and bakery chain 85°C (85度C), saw its net income last year doubled to NT$1.14 billion (US$34.60 million) from the previous year’s NT$527 million thanks to the company’s focus on organizational restructuring, cost control and brand building. Earnings per share were NT$8.07 last year, compared with the NT$3.74 recorded a year earlier. Total sales rose from NT$17.92 billion in 2014 to NT$20.46 billion last year, as store remodeling was progressing well in both Taiwan and China, the company said.
GAMING
Gamania sales increase
Gamania Digital Entertainment Co (遊戲橘子) on Friday said sales rose 7 percent annually to NT$9.68 billion last year, but net income grew by 316 percent to NT$390 million, the highest in nine years. Earnings per share were NT$2.46, the online games publisher said. Gamania attributed the increases to the launches of several new gaming titles last year, as well as contribution from its e-commerce subsidiary, Jollywiz Digital Technology Co (樂利數位).
MICROCHIPS
VIA swings to profit
Chip designer VIA Technologies Inc (威盛科技) on Friday said it swung into profit last year, thanks to the contribution of non-operating income of NT$2.63 billion. The company reported the first profitable year since 2005, with net profit of NT$823 million or earnings per share of NT$1.72. It still reported a net loss of NT$1.71 billion on an operating basis, with consolidated sales contracting by 27.39 percent to NT$4.73 billion. Last year, the company sold its handset chip subsidiary, VIA Telecom Co (威睿電通), to Intel Corp for an unspecific amount.
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
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