SMARTPHONES
China’s market grows 5.8%
China’s smartphone market grew 5.8 percent year-on-year and 3.6 percent quarter-on-quarter to 115.1 million units in the third quarter, with Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀移動) and Vivo Communication Technology Co Ltd (維沃移動通信) overtaking Huawei Technologies Co (華為) for the first time, International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday. Oppo secured a market share of 17.5 percent in China last quarter, followed by Vivo’s 16.7 percent and Huawei’s 15.7 percent, IDC data showed. Xiaomi Corp (小米) ranked the fourth-largest, with an 8.7 percent market share, while Apple Inc came fifth with a 7.1 percent share. “Oppo and Vivo rose because the Chinese market has evolved beyond operator and online driven channels to an offline structure that dovetails with Oppo and Vivo’s strengths,” IDC said in a press release.
SEMICONDUCTORS
HMI’s Q3 income plummets
Semiconductor inspection tool and equipment maker Hermes Microvision Inc (HMI, 漢微科) yesterday said that its third-quarter net income fell 92.76 percent annually to NT$34.09 million (US$1.08 million) because of lower sales and foreign-exchange losses. Earnings per share were NT$0.48 for the July-to-September quarter, compared with NT$6.64 a year earlier. In the first three quarters of this year, Hermes Microvision’s net income fell 47.96 percent to NT$831.03 million from the same period last year, with earnings per share falling to NT$11.7 from NT$22.49, the company’s financial statement showed. The Investment Commission and Fair Trade Commission recently approved ASML Holding NV’s acquisition of HMI, which is expected to be completed later this quarter.
ELECTRONICS
Sinbon gets earnings boost
Sinbon Electronics Co (信邦電子), which produces cables, connectors and modems, yesterday reported better-than-expected earnings for last quarter, thanks to an improved product mix and cost controls. Net profit was NT$294 million in the third quarter, or earnings per share of NT$1.31, with revenue of NT$3.23 billion. In the first three quarters this year, net profit totaled NT$911 million, up 15.59 percent year-on-year, with earnings per share of NT$4.06. Cumulative revenue grew 6.49 percent annually to NT$9.98 billion. However, seasonal factors are likely to affect the company’s performance this quarter, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said in a client note, expecting net profit to fall 20 percent and revenue 5 percent from last quarter.
AVIATION
AIDC inks spare parts deal
Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空工業) has signed a cooperation contract with US-based General Electric Co (GE) to manufacture spare parts for GE’s fuel-efficient LEAP aircraft engines. The contract is valid from this year through 2020, the nation’s largest civilian and military aircraft manufacturer said on Thursday. AIDC and GE have also inked a contract, valid from next year through 2022, to manufacture the new LEAP engines and spare parts for the GE LM9000 aeroderivative industrial gas turbine, it said. AIDC declined to disclose the total value of the two deals, but said the contracts are expected to create business opportunities for the local electronics supply chain. GE, the world’s largest manufacturer of passenger jet engines, began contracting AIDC to produce aircraft engine parts in 1997.
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