TELECOMS
CHT figures beat estimates
Chunghwa Telecom Co (CHT, 中華電信) yesterday said continued efforts to streamline its operations and expense controls have enabled it to beat its earlier estimates for second-quarter operating income, net income and earnings per share. The nation’s largest telecommunications carrier said its net income in the April-to-June quarter was NT$11.06 billion (US$346.11 million), down 0.7 percent year-on-year, with earnings per share of NT$1.43. Operating income fell 2.4 percent to NT$12.88 billion and revenue fell 1.3 percent to NT$56.2 billion over the same period. Chairman Rick Tsai (蔡力行) said the company’s mobile Internet revenue rose by 6.6 percent annually in the second quarter and its 4G subscriber base expanded to 5.7 million as of the end of last month.
CHIPMAKERS
Macronix reduces losses
Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), which supplies memory chips for Japanese video game console maker Nintendo Co, yesterday posted a net loss of NT$691 million in the second quarter, compared with losses of NT$891 million in the previous quarter. The company’s gross margin fell from 15 percent to 14 percent, while revenue rose 2 percent to NT$5.18 billion over the same period. In the April-to-June quarter, NAND flash memory contributed 10 percent to Macronix’s overall revenue, NOR flash memory accounted for 66 percent of its revenue, while ROM products comprised 11 percent and its foundry business provided 13 percent.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Lotus gains US approval
Lotus Pharmaceutical Co (美時化學製藥), which makes and distributes oral and injection medicine, on Tuesday announced that its abbreviated new drug application for a generic version of calcium acetate capsules in 667mg doses has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The drug is used to reduce blood phosphate levels in people on dialysis with end-stage kidney disease. The company did not elaborate. Lotus Pharma’s aggregate sales in the first half rose 15.3 percent annually to NT$3.03 billion.
LIGHTING
Coretronic income falls
Coretronic Corp (中強光電), a manufacturer of LCD backlight modules, on Wednesday reported earnings per share of NT$0.54 for the second quarter, as net income decreased 8 percent annually to NT$233 million. Last quarter’s profit was lower than first quarter’s net income of NT$322 million. Coretronic, which also produces visual-solution products and projectors, said revenue in the second quarter declined 20 percent year-on-year and 2 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$13.572 billion, affected by seasonally low demand. In the first half of this year, the company reported earnings per share of NT$1.13, up slightly from a year earlier.
SOFTWARE
Microsoft appoint official
Microsoft Corp yesterday appointed Naoyuki Isogai, former chief of staff of corporate strategy at Microsoft Japan, to serve as marketing and operations general manager of Microsoft Taiwan. Naoyuki told a media gathering in Taipei that he worked at Microsoft Japan for more than 18 years and it is his first time to run a business outside Japan. Naoyuki is to be responsible for devising business strategies, investment planning and driving marketing plans to achieve high growth in Taiwan’s market, the US company said in a statement.
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
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
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