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.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
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