STEELMAKERS
China Steel sees profit jump
China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, yesterday said pre-tax profit last month surged to NT$1.55 billion (US$47.37 million), compared with March’s pre-tax profit of NT$899 million. That brought the company’s total pre-tax profit in the first four months of this year to NT$2.38 billion, according to a company statement. The company lost NT$318 million before taxes in January. Revenue last month declined 7.44 percent to NT$22.88 billion from March’s NT$24.72 billion. The firm’s carbon steel shipments last month fell to 957,813 tonnes, down by 6.33 percent from 1.02 milion tonnes shipped a month earlier.
SMARTPHONES
Samsung retains its lead
Samsung Electronics Co’s smartphone sales dominated Taiwan’s market last month, with its share reaching 25.1 percent in terms of shipments, according to statistics compiled by local retail channels. Apple Inc, which last month launched its iPhone SE locally, was ranked second with a 16.6 percent share, the statistics showed. Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) followed closely behind the US company with a share of 16.58 percent. Altogether, 650,000 smartphones were sold in Taiwan last month, with Samsung’s Galaxy J7 being the most popular device, the statistics showed.
INTERNET
Awards reflect focus on IoT
The Internet of Things (IoT) has this year grown closer to being a part of people’s everyday life, as seen in the results of this year’s Computex Taipei Best Choice Award contest yesterday. An air quality sensor from Kingmax Digital Inc (勝創) is one example. The USB key-sized device can help monitor indoor air quality via an Android-based smartphone app to remind consumers to take precautionary measures. Amaryllo International BV’s new home security robots employ audio sensors and a smart sensor network to not only automatically track intruders, but also identify family members through facial recognition software. Meanwhile, a chopstick sanitizer developed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute could help improve hygiene through the combination of laser and LED technologies. The three devices were among 36 products that won Best Choice Awards, event organizer Taipei Computer Association said.
ELECTRONICS
Quakes affect Sony results
Sony Corp yesterday said a pair of earthquakes in Japan last month would dent its financial results, while the company warned that net profit would fall by nearly half, largely due to a high comparison base. “Due to the impact of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes, sales [in certain divisions] are expected to be lower than the level anticipated prior to the earthquakes,” it said. The earthquakes, which caused major damage in southern Kyushu and claimed dozens of lives, would hit operating profit in the fiscal year to March next year by as much as ¥115 billion (US$1.05 billion), Sony said, adding that sales would fall year-on-year. Major firms, including Sony and Toyota Motor Corp, temporarily shuttered factories in the wake of the disaster, hitting production and sales, while costs are also to include repairing damaged buildings. The announcement came as Sony said it would book a net profit of ¥80 billion this year, down nearly 46 percent from the just-ended fiscal year, when it booked a one-time gain from the sale of shares in camera and medical equipment giant Olympus Corp.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the