ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai’s revenue shrinks
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said its revenue fell 5.57 percent year-on-year to NT$957.84 billion (US$29.52 billion) in the first quarter, mainly because of a higher base last year. On a quarterly basis, revenue plunged 33.01 percent from NT$1.43 trillion as the company’s product lines entered the slow season for consumer electronics and communication products. However, last month the company’s revenue expanded 21.01 percent to NT$339.62 billion from February’s NT$280.64 billion, it said.
PANEL MAKERS
Innolux’s revenue halves
LCD panel supplier Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said its revenue almost halved to NT$18.71 billion last month, from NT$36.9 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, revenue rose 12.5 percent from NT$16.63 billion as shipments of TV and PC panels increased 19.2 percent after quake-hit production lines in Tainan restored their operations. During the first quarter, revenue plunged 43.7 percent to NT$56.42 billion from NT$100.16 billion the previous year.
PANEL MAKERS
AUO shipments contract
AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) yesterday said its revenue declined 24.5 percent to NT$26.27 billion last month from NT$34.8 billion the previous year. That brought the panel maker’s first-quarter revenue to NT$71.14 billion, down 25.4 percent from NT$95.3 billion the previous year. Shipments of TV and PC panels contracted 8.8 percent year-on-year last quarter, the company said.
ELECTRONICS
Weak demand hits Lite-On
Electronic components maker Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday said its consolidated revenue was NT$49.81 billion in the first quarter of the year, a decline of 3.31 percent from the previous year and 13.75 percent lower than the previous quarter. Analysts attributed the softer revenue to weakness in demand, especially in the information technology and optoelectronics segments.
TELECOMS
Chunghwa beats its estimate
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) yesterday said its first-quarter results beat its earlier estimate and indicated a positive outlook for the first half of the year. The nation’s largest telecom said its net income in the first quarter was NT$11.66 billion, up 11.9 percent year-on-year, or earnings per share of NT$1.5. Revenue rose 0.8 percent to NT$56.94 billion during the same period.
CHIPMAKERS
Higher sales boost Elan
Touchpanel controller chipmaker Elan Microelectronics Corp (義隆電子) yesterday said its revenue declined 7.5 percent year-on-year, but grew 45.5 percent month-on-month to NT$514 million last month. Elan attributed the monthly increase to higher contributions from its touch-pad applications and pointing stick devices for notebook computers. Microcontroller and touchscreen chips also reported a 20 percent growth in sales last month, the company said.
METAL CASINGS
Casetek sales up 5.5%
Casetek Holdings Inc (鎧勝), which supplies metal casings for Apple Inc’s iPhones and MacBooks, yesterday reported a 5.5 percent year-on-year increase in sales to NT$8.42 billion in the first quarter. However, the result was 36.78 percent less than the prior quarter’s NT$13.32 billion due to seasonal factors. Casetek chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) said in January that the company would see its sales to grow quarter-by-quarter this year.
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
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
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