Shares of E Ink Holdings Co (元太科技) yesterday rallied to an almost four-year high on speculation that Apple Inc might introduce a dual screen in its next iPhone model using E Ink’s energy-efficient e-paper displays.
The stock price of E Ink surged 3.62 percent to NT$24.35 yesterday, retreating from an early gain of 5.53 percent. The closing price was the highest since Nov. 2, 2012. Turnover was the largest in a month at 34.74 million shares.
The stock outperformed the TPEX, which fell 0.5 percent yesterday.
E Ink supplies e-paper displays primarily to e-reader vendors such as Sony Corp and Amazon.com.
The rally in E Ink’s stock price was prompted by a report by the Economic Daily News that Apple has requested E Ink to send products for sampling and certification after Yota Devices’ dual-screen YotaPhone 2 impressed the US consumer electronics giant.
“We are aggressively exploring business opportunities to use our e-paper displays as secondary screens on mobile phones,” an E Ink public relations official said by telephone yesterday.
The official declined to comment on information on any single customer.
China’s Siswoo earlier this year also unveiled a dual-screen phone, the R9 Darkmoon, equipped with a standard smartphone display and a secondary screen on the back. The secondary screen is a 4.7-inch grayscale e-paper display produced by E Ink, which is energy-saving and can handle texts, e-mails and other functions.
In a separate statement, E Ink said it plans to streamline the operations of a less advanced 2.5-generation LCD factory in Hsinchu, which is a further move to exit the volatile LCD market.
Earlier this year, E Ink shut down its South Korean LCD manufacturing subsidiary Hydis Technologies Co Ltd in an effort to stem losses from LCD panels.
E Ink plans to transform the 2.5-generation production line into a research and development line for developing new e-paper displays, the company said.
About 70 percent, or 190 out of 286 employees working at the plant would be affected by the adjustment, E Ink said.
The company would pay higher severance fees for those employees affected than stipulated by the Labor Standards Act (勞基法) and it will also help them find new jobs.
E Ink generates about 70 percent of its revenue from selling e-paper displays used in e-books, which delivers a higher gross margin than LCD panels, the company said.
E-paper displays for luggage tags, supermarket goods shelves, wearable devices, phones and LCD panels make up the remaining 30 percent, the company said.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS