Airtac International Group (亞德客國際集團), a China-based pneumatic components supplier, reported NT$6.15 billion (US$195.8 million) in revenue in the first seven months, up 20 percent from the previous year, on rising demand from China.
The pneumatic components maker also saw its net profit soar 30 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.05 billion for the first half of the year.
The results translated into NT$5.83 in earnings per share, the second-highest level after earnings in the first half of 2014, company data showed.
The strong performance could be attributed to recovering demand in the Chinese market, the company told an investors’ conference on Friday last week.
The fast increase in orders from electronic, automobile and battery industries helped boost sales, the company said.
Airtac’s products are applied in various automated machines, including electronic equipment, automotive assembly lines and robot arms.
“Thanks to a diversified product mix, our company is not susceptible to fluctuations in any single industry,” the company said, adding that the strategy accounted for strong sales in the first half of the year.
However, the pneumatic components maker derives most of its revenue from the Chinese market, which accounts for 90 percent of Airtac’s total revenues, the company said.
Revenues from Taiwan contributes only 4 percent, the company said.
Airtac has become the second-largest pneumatic component maker in China with a 16 percent share, while Japan’s SMC Corp commands a 32 percent market share, company data showed.
Airtac said it plans to invest in building new plants to expand capacity.
Airtac said that it would purchase about 100 hectares in Ningbo, China, as a new production base in response to soaring demand for pneumatic components in the nation.
The company has set aside NT$1.5 billion in capital expenditures this year and would invest more in capacity expansion in China next year.
The China-based pneumatic components maker is also planning to set up branches in places other than Taiwan and China.
Airtac has sales divisions in Italy, Singapore, Japan and Thailand and Malaysia. It plans divisions in the US, Germany and Spain.
Last year, the pneumatic components maker’s net profits decreased from NT$1.79 billion in 2014 to NT$1.38 billion, or NT$7.64 earnings per share.
The company attributed the decline to weak demand in the global market.
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
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