MANUFACTURING
Hon Hai revenue rises
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), one of Apple Inc’s iPhone assemblers, yesterday posted revenue of NT$322.78 billion (US$10.66 billion) for last month, up 0.12 percent year-on-year from NT$322.38 billion in April last year. On a monthly basis, it represented a 5.53 percent decline from NT$341.69 billion in March, Hon Hai’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange said. Hon Hai attributed the monthly decline to the softness of its computing products, while the performance of its devices stayed flat from a month earlier. Sales of its consumer products only dropped slightly last month from a month earlier, it said.
MANUFACTURING
Pegatron reports record sales
Pegatron Corp (和碩), an Apple Inc iPhone assembler, yesterday reported sales of NT$82 billion for last month, its strongest performance over the same period in its history, the firm said in a stock exchange filing. The monthly result represented a surge of 26.01 percent annually and 10.37 percent from a month earlier, the company’s filing said.
BANKING
Vision Fund close to US$95bn
SoftBank Group Corp is expected to announce commitments of as much as US$95 billion for its Vision Fund, people familiar with the matter said. The fundraising drive is expected to be announced next week, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. A representative of Tokyo-based SoftBank declined to comment. Chief executive officer Masayoshi Son’s investment pool has attracted interest from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which said it would consider offering as much as US$45 billion, as well as technology giants such as Apple and Qualcomm Inc, which have also said they would participate. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Co is also considering committing as much as US$15 billion, people familiar with the matter said. SoftBank plans to contribute at least US$25 billion of its own capital in the next five years. The Japanese company announced plans for the technology fund last year, aiming to create a one of the biggest technology investors over the next decade.
CURRENCY
US dollar rises against NT
The US dollar yesterday rose against the New Taiwan dollar, gaining NT$0.008 to close at NT$30.266. Turnover totaled US$744 million during the trading session. The greenback opened at NT$30.220 and moved between NT$30.216 and NT$30.290 before the close. Despite the recent pullback, local currency has risen about 7 percent against the greenback since the beginning of this year, which has led to concern that exporters could see their sales and earnings fall, and that calls could be made for the central bank to intervene in the foreign exchange market. “The central bank should move to prevent international speculative capital inflows and outflows from affecting the FOREX market,” said Hiwin Technologies Co, the nation’s largest manufacturer of linear-motion devices. Noting that 80 percent of the company’s sales rely on exports, the toolmaker said a fast appreciation of the currency could significantly affect its turnover and margins. While businesses should upgrade to increase their added value and reduce the effects of fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, the central bank should maintain a stable exchange rate because a rise or fall in domestic currency is closely related to national competitiveness, Hiwin said.
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
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”