Laster Tech Corp Ltd (麗清科技), the nation’s leading auto parts supplier, reported a significant annual increase in revenue for last month, backed by robust demand in China.
Laster posted consolidated sales of NT$400 million (US$12.71 million) for last month, soaring 83 percent from the same period last year, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
In the third quarter, total revenue jumped 42 percent to NT$856 million from the same period last year, the largest annual growth in quarterly revenue in the company’s history, company data showed.
From January to last month, Laster saw its sales increase 21 percent to NT$2.36 billion on a yearly basis, the data showed.
The company attributed the growth to the launches of automotive LED lightning products and rising demand of its Chinese customers, such as Great Wall Motor Co (長城汽車), the largest sport utility vehicle brand in China.
Despite the third quarter usually being a low season for auto parts suppliers, Laster’s revenue grew significantly on the back of rising LED lighting penetration in China, according to the company’s statement released on Friday last week.
The company gave an optimistic sales outlook for this quarter, as it sees further business opportunities in global automotive LED lightning market.
Laster said that its major customers have been working on the research and development of more energy-efficient car components, including LED daytime running lights, which are expected to stimulate the company’s sales.
The booming China car market is also seen as a catalyst for revenue growth, Laster said in the statement.
In the first eight months of this year, new car sales in China grew 11.4 percent to 16,575,000 units from the same period last year, according to the latest data compiled by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Meanwhile, Iron Force Industrial Co Ltd (劍麟), which distributes car safety components to global customers, also reported an increase in sales last month.
The company reported revenue of NT$373 million for last month, up by 0.35 percent from a year earlier. Its combined sales last quarter grew 3.27 percent annually to NT$1.14 billion.
Iron Force said it sees growing demand for its key products, including airbag inflators and seatbelts, as people are more aware of safety issues when buying cars.
The company said that it expects demand for vehicle safety components will continue to grow in China, as this quarter is the traditional peak season for Chinese car manufacturers.
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
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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