TOUCHPANELS
GIS posts revenue rise
General Interface Solution Holding Ltd (GIS, 業成), one of the major touchpanel suppliers for Apple Inc, yesterday posted a sequential increase in revenue of 9.7 percent for last month at NT$5.51 billion (US$170 million) from February’s NT$5.02 billion. That brought the company’s first-quarter revenue to NT$19.59 billion, plunging 47.76 percent from NT$37.51 billion in the fourth quarter last year, according to a company statement released yesterday. On an annual basis, last quarter’s revenue grew 28.72 percent from NT$15.22 billion, the statement showed. Another Apple touchpanel supplier, TPK Holding Co (宸鴻), on Wednesday reported that revenue increased 27.6 percent to NT$6.91 billion last month from the previous month. Last quarter, revenue sank about 38 percent sequentially to NT$21.24 billion, from NT$34.44 billion. That represented an annual decline of 26.6 percent.
COMMUNICATIONS
Sercomm reports 35% jump
Broadband and telecommunications equipment maker Sercomm Corp (中磊) yesterday said revenue jumped 35 percent annually to NT$3.18 billion last month from NT$2.36 billion a year ago. That helped boost Sercomm’s first-quarter revenue by 39 percent to reach NT$8.82 billion, according to a company statement released yesterday. The company made NT$6.35 billion in revenue in the same period last year. Sercomm last week said that it has received approval from the National Communications Committee to ship its new small-cell base station, which supports 4G technology. Sercomm counts Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) as one of its customers.
BANKING
Manila branch approved
State-run First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) has obtained approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission to set up a branch in Manila, the lender said in a statement yesterday. First Bank plans to open the branch by the end of this year, allowing it to take advantage of the fast-growing economy in the Philippines and gain headway in growing into a regional financial service provider, the statement said. The Philippines achieved GDP growth of 5.8 percent last year and is expected to grow 6.3 percent this year, First Bank said, citing the IMF.
ELECTRONICS
Delta sales increase 45%
Delta Electronics Inc (台達電子), the nation’s biggest power supply-unit maker, yesterday said that sales last month rose 45 percent sequentially to NT$18.04 billion. Aggregate sales in the first quarter rose 10 percent annually to NT$47.6 billion. Last month, 51 percent of sales came from power supply and modules, 30 percent from energy management products and its “green” and “smart” home products contributed 18 percent, the firm said.
SCOOTER MAKERS
Local brands touted
The potential market for local motorcycle and scooter brands is global, given that one of every 10 scooters on the streets of Europe are from Taiwanese manufacturers and their growing popularity around the world, an industry expert said on Wednesday. Taiwan’s automobile and motorcycle manufacturers have attained great achievements in developing their own brands, as shown by the launch of several domestic scooter and motorbike brands such as Kymco and SYM, said Ko Chun-ping (柯俊斌), chairman of the motorcycles manufacturing committee, which is run by the Taiwan Transportation Vehicle Manufacturers Association (台灣車輛公會).
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
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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