ELECTRONICS
Pegatron adapting to clients
Amid market speculation that Apple Inc has been cutting costs in its supply chain in an attempt to maintain profitability, Pegatron Corp (和碩) chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) said it is normal in the manufacturing industry for clients to regularly reduce costs in their supply chains. While the firm would not comment on its clients, it has become accustomed to such practices and has developed measures in response to price cuts, the Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper quoted Tung as saying. Pegatron is one of the main assemblers of Apple’s iPhone series of smartphones. Tung said Pegatron continues to invest in industrial automation and improving its yield to raise operational efficiency in an effort to respond to clients’ price cuts. At the same time, Pegatron has also been working on diversifying its client base, Tung added.
ELECTRONICS
Sharp might buy back assets
Sharp Corp will likely buy back its TV assets in the US and Europe now that its takeover by Taiwan-based manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) has been completed, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. The report said that following the acquisition, Sharp is considering the possibility of buying back its TV business in the US and Europe and would next month send delegations to the two regions to negotiate the potential deals. The report echoed a comment made by Hon Hai vice chairman Tai Jeng-wu (戴正吳), who took over as president of Sharp after the acquisition was finalized. Tai said he wanted to buy back the assets the struggling Japanese electronics manufacturer disposed of in the US and Europe to help Sharp re-establish its brand in the two markets and regain lost market share.
INVESTMENT
Delegation touts investment
A delegation organized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs that recently returned from the US and Canada could end up generating NT$6 billion (US$189.2 million) in investment over the next three years, the ministry said. The delegation, led by Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Wei-fu (楊偉甫), visited nine potential investors in the US and Canada from Aug. 13 to Sunday. Among the companies the delegation visited were Canadian technology computer aided design tools maker Crosslight Software Inc, Canada’s Jim Pattison Group, US-based semiconductor material manufacturer Cabot Microelectronics Corp and GPS developer Garmin Corp, the ministry said. The delegation signed letters of intent on future investment in Taiwan with Crosslight, Cabot and Garmin, it said. Yang said the three firms that signed letters of intent and other companies that expressed interest in Taiwan could contribute at least NT$6 billion in investment over the next three years.
FINANCIAL
Taishin net income plunges
Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) yesterday reported that net income in the first half of this year fell to NT$6.7 billion, compared with NT$8.4 billion in the same period last year, due to lackluster sales of wealth management products. Earnings per share during the period was NT$0.72, with return on equity performance at 11.56 percent. The firm expects earnings to remain flat in the second half due to limited growth prospects in net interest margins because of Taiwan’s low interest rate environment. The company will continue to adjust its deposit structure to cut funding costs, it said at an investors’ conference.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last