SEMICONDUCTORS
Book-to-bill ratio rises
The book-to-bill ratio for North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers, such as Applied Materials Inc, increased to 1.15 last month from 1.05 in February, statistics released yesterday by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) showed. A ratio of 1.15 means that US$115 worth of orders were received for every US$100 of product billed in the month. It was the fourth consecutive month the ratio was above one, which implies a more optimistic outlook. “Order activity remains steady and is on par with both the previous quarter and one year earlier,” SEMI Taiwan president Terry Tsao (曹世綸) said in a statement. “3D NAND and advanced logic are the key drivers for investments.”
PERSONNEL
Pegatron reveals reshuffle
Pegatron Corp (和碩) on Thursday announced a reshuffle of its management, saying it hopes the changes would help achieve the company’s long-term goals. The company said in a statement that several high-ranking officials are shifting posts, with chief operating officer S.J. Liao (廖賜政) taking over as president and chief executive officer, succeeding Jason Cheng (程建中), who is to be vice chairman. Vice president Denese Yao (姚德慈) is to become chief operating officer, while another vice president, Simon Huang (黃中于), is to be chief technology officer, Pegatron said. The changes, which are to take effect on July 1, come as vice chairman Ted Hsu (徐世昌) is leaving Pegatron for Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) to serve as chief strategy officer there from next month.
PERSONNEL
Samsung manager to leave
Samsung Electronics Taiwan Co (台灣三星) yesterday said that Gary Tsao (曹紋察), general manager for information technology and mobile communication, plans to leave the company to pursue other interests after completing the local launch of Galaxy S7 smartphones next month. Tsao, who was general manager of the company’s consumer electronics team in 2014, took over his current post in August last year. Samsung Taiwan president Lee Jaeyub said the company will seek excellent talent to lead its IT and mobile communication team forward.
CHIEF EXECUTIVES
Terry Gou ranked No. 1
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) was named Taiwan’s best-performing CEO in a top-50 list released on Thursday by the of the Harvard Business Review magazine’s Chinese-language edition. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) was ranked No. 2, followed by Jonney Shih (施崇棠), chairman of Asustek Computer Inc (華碩). Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) took three spots on the list as chairman of Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), U-Ming Marine Transport Corp (裕民航運) and Asia Cement Corp (亞洲水泥). HTC Corp (宏達電) chairwoman Cher Wang (王雪紅), the only woman on the list, was 22nd.
INSURANCE
China warns over HK buys
The Chinese Insurance Regulatory Commission yesterday warned Chinese residents over risks connected to buying insurance products in Hong Kong. Products denominated in currencies such as the Hong Kong dollar and the US dollar pose currency risks for buyers, the commission said in a statement. Overseas purchases of life and investment-related insurance products are transactions of capital accounts, which are not open according to regulations, the commission said. Policyholders risk being unable to make timely premium payments if foreign-exchange payment policies change, it said.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is