GAMING
Cayenne to list in Taipei
Mobile game distributor Cayenne Ark Mobile Co Ltd (辣椒方舟), an affiliate of Cayenne Entertainment Technology Co (紅心辣椒), is to list today on the Taipei Exchange’s Emerging Stock Board at NT$20 per share. Cayenne Ark chairman Joe Deng (鄧潤澤) yesterday told a news conference that the company has a challenging year ahead due to intensified market competition and the hit mobile game Pokemon Go. The company reported net losses of NT$15.05 million (US$476,900) in the first half of this year, compared with a net income of NT$16.03 million during the same period last year. Deng said the company plans to introduce a new mobile game in Taiwan at the end of this year and four more games next year, making them Cayenne Ark’s main growth drivers next year. Deng declined to offer a revenue forecast for next year.
COSMETICS
Namchow inks skincare MOU
Cooking oil manufacturer Namchow Chemical Industrial Co (南僑化學工業) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Metal Industries Research and Development Center (金屬工業研究發展中心), marking a further step into the natural skincare market. Under its self-owned brand, the company hopes to distribute high-priced cosmetic products with natural ingredients from Taiwan to global customers, Namchow chairman Alfred Chen (陳飛龍) said at a signing ceremony in Taipei, without giving a schedule.
STEELMAKERS
CSC appoints chairman
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s largest steel mill, said in a press release yesterday that the company’s board approved the appointment of Wong Chao-tung (翁朝棟) as chairman. The board also named vice president Liu Jih-gang (劉季剛) to take over Wong’s position as president. In a separate release, the company reported pretax profit for the first nine months of this year of NT$16.67 billion, soaring 40 percent from the same period last year, after pretax profit of NT$8.83 billion last quarter, its highest quarterly level this year.
SOCIETY
Kaoshiung to host expo
The Maker Wisdom Expo, an event that allows artists and organizations to showcase their work and interact with others, is to take place at the Chung Cheng Martial Arts Stadium in Kaohsiung on Nov. 19 and Nov. 20, organizers said yesterday. Now in its second year, the expo is to have 125 booths set up by 65 schools and businesses for exhibitions, presentations and demonstrations, the Kaohsiung City Government said.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Line reports Q3 profit
Line Corp reported third-quarter profit and revenue that missed analysts’ estimates as the company pushes into advertising to offset slowing growth in its user base. Operating profit was ￥4.9 billion (US$47 million) in the period ended Sept. 30, according to calculations based on nine-month numbers released by Line yesterday, while sales reached ￥35.9 billion in the period. Line said its monthly active users totaled 220 million as of last month, a 3.5 percent increase from a year earlier. That was slightly lower than the previous quarter, when subscribers increased 4.1 percent, and the slowest growth in at least two years. Line expects annual sales to increase in the period ending Dec. 31, helped by advertising revenue. The company did not give a full-year earnings forecast.
AI SERVER DEMAND: ‘Overall industry demand continues to outpace supply and we are expanding capacity to meet it,’ the company’s chief executive officer said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter rose 27 percent from the same quarter last year on the back of demand for cloud services and high-performance computing products. Net profit surged to NT$44.36 billion (US$1.48 billion) from NT$35.04 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, net profit grew 5 percent from NT$42.1 billion. Earnings per share expanded to NT$3.19 from NT$2.53 a year earlier and NT$3.03 in the first quarter. However, a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar since early May has weighed on the company’s performance, Hon Hai chief financial officer David Huang (黃德才)
The Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show, which is to be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, would showcase the latest in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven robotics and automation technologies, the organizer said yesterday. The event would highlight applications in smart manufacturing, as well as information and communications technology, the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association said. More than 1,000 companies are to display innovations in semiconductors, electromechanics, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, it said in a news release. Visitors can explore automated guided vehicles, 3D machine vision systems and AI-powered applications at the show, along
FORECAST: The greater computing power needed for emerging AI applications has driven higher demand for advanced semiconductors worldwide, TSMC said The government-supported Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has raised its forecast for this year’s growth in the output value of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry to above 22 percent on strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. In its latest IEK Current Quarterly Model report, the institute said the local semiconductor industry would have output of NT$6.5 trillion (US$216.6 billion) this year, up 22.2 percent from a year earlier, an upward revision from a 19.1 percent increase estimate made in May. The strong showing of the local semiconductor industry largely reflected the stronger-than-expected performance of the integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing segment,
NVIDIA FACTOR: Shipments of AI servers powered by GB300 chips would undergo pilot runs this quarter, with small shipments possibly starting next quarter, it said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which supplies artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp chips, yesterday said that AI servers are on track to account for 70 percent of its total server revenue this year, thanks to improved yield rates and a better learning curve for Nvidia’s GB300 chip-based servers. AI servers accounted for more than 60 percent of its total server revenue in the first half of this year, Quanta chief financial officer Elton Yang (楊俊烈) told an online conference. The company’s latest production learning curve of the AI servers powered by Nvidia’s GB200 chips has improved after overcoming key component
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