MANUFACTURING
Sector recovering: TIER
The local manufacturing sector showed signs of a recovery in April, as the index that gauges the climate of the sector flashed yellow-blue for the first time in 12 months, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said yesterday. The composite index rose from 9.14 points in March to 10.68 points in April, flashing yellow-blue, indicating a recovery, the institute said. Among the five sub-indices, four showed signs of improving — business environment, raw materials, demand and pricing — while the operating costs sub-index fell from the previous month, the institute said.
COMPACT DISCS
Higher demand boosts CMC
CMC Magnetics Corp (中環), the nation’s largest maker of recordable compact discs, yesterday said revenue for this year would be higher than last year on the back of strong order visibility. CMC chairman Bob Wong (翁明顯) said demand is expected to accelerate this year after several companies decided to withdraw from the market. That demand allowed CMC to raise its prices by between 5 percent and 10 percent earlier this quarter, Wong said. The company reported a net loss of NT$387.97 million (US$11.9 million), or a loss per share of NT$0.19, in the first quarter, with revenue of NT$2.799 billion and gross margin of 4.35 percent.
LIFE INSURANCE
Mercuries value grows
Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽保險) yesterday released its embedded value for last year, with the figure estimated to have grown 18 percent year-on-year to NT$107.66 billion. The updated figures translated into an embedded value per share of NT$67.8 based on the number of common shares in circulation, up NT$0.5 from the previous year, the company said. The embedded value — referring to the insurer’s present value of future profits plus adjusted net asset value — is an important indicator of a life insurer’s future profitability and financial standing. The company also reported net profit of NT$179 million for the first quarter of this year, or earnings per share of NT$0.11. Gross premiums totaled NT$41.3 billion in the first quarter, down 4 percent from the previous year, with first-year premiums decreasing 21.9 percent to NT$10.7 billion, the company said.
AIRLINES
TransAsia president dies
TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空) president Chen Wei-chau (陳葦洲) died yesterday after suffering a heart attack, the company said. TransAsia chairman Vincent Lin (林明昇) expressed sorrow over Chen’s death and said Chen had made great efforts to improve aviation safety since he joined the company in October last year. Thanks to Chen’s efforts, the carrier’s flight operations quality assurance has reached 99.8 percent and the dispatch reliability of its Airbus A320 and A330 aircraft has surpassed the global standard, Lin said. Chen was born in 1954.
ELECTRONICS
Panasonic to ditch TV panels
Panasonic Corp shares yesterday surged 3.63 percent to close at ¥1,031.5 in Tokyo trading after a report said it would stop producing LCD displays for TVs. The company confirmed the report, saying it would stop TV panel production by September as part of its strategy to focus on more profitable businesses. Panasonic has been struggling to make money in the business, as it competes against lower-cost rivals overseas.
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
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
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure