ENERGY
Temperature, usage spike
Electricity consumption soared yesterday as temperatures topped 30°C, resulting in the sixth orange warning this month, state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said. An orange warning indicates that the operating reserve margin has fallen below 6 percent. Electricity consumption peaked at 32.34 million kilowatts at 11:22am, when the operating reserve margin fell to 4.51 percent, or 1.46 million kilowatts, Taipower said. However, rain in the afternoon helped drive down temperatures, easing the burden, the firm said, adding that with the arrival of seasonal plum rains, power consumption is likely to ease in the coming weeks.
TECHNOLOGY
Synnex profits fall 6% yearly
Synnex Technology International Corp (聯強), which distributes computers and handsets, yesterday reported net income of NT$1.14 billion (US$37.8 million) for last quarter, down 6 percent from NT$1.21 billion in the same period last year. Earnings per share fell from NT$0.72 to NT$0.68, the firm said in a statement. Synnex attributed the decline to various challenges in the market, including weak industry demand, deferred launches of new cellphones, a shortage of key components and appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar. Foreign exchange losses totaled NT$140 million in the quarter, Synnex said.
BANKING
SinoPac denies allegations
SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) yesterday denied allegations that its banking arm violated rules limiting lending to interested parties. Lawmakers accused Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) of organizing a US$435 million loan for Sun Power Development and Construction Co (三寶建設) and a number of privately held investment companies under its control. Among the investment companies is Star City, whose board of directors include Chang Hsing-ju (張杏如), wife of SinoPac chairman Ho Shou-chuan (何壽川). SinoPac said in a statement that Chang’s term on the board of directors had ended six months before the loans were approved on Dec. 14, 2012.
MANUFACTURING
Laster Tech profits skyrocket
Laster Tech Corp Ltd (麗清科技), an LED chip and lighting products supplier, yesterday said net income last quarter skyrocketed to NT$85.3 million, or earnings per share of NT$1.25, from NT$31.9 million in the same period last year, or NT$0.53 per share, supported by increasing adoption of automotive LED lights. Sales in the first three months of this year soared 50.9 percent from NT$677.5 million to NT$1.02 billion, a statement said. The automotive parts manufacturer attributed the strong performance to robust demand from its major Chinese customers, such as Great Wall Motor Co (長城汽車) and Shanghai Koito Automotive Lamp Co Ltd (上海小糸), despite a foreign exchange loss of nearly NT$76 million for the first quarter. The company has approved a plan to issue convertible bonds worth NT$701.4 million, in an effort to repay bank loans and improve its financial structure.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Yuan deposits extend slide
Chinese yuan deposits last month decreased 0.35 percent month-on-month to 307.97 billion yuan (US$44.65 million), continuing a downtrend seen in the previous months, the central bank said yesterday. Yuan deposits at domestic banking units fell 0.62 percent to 275.36 billion yuan from the previous month, while yuan deposits at their overseas banking units rose 2.02 percent to 32.61 billion yuan, it said.
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
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],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day