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.
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
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the