ELECTRONICS
Lite-On posts higher revenue
Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$19.53 billion (US$638.55 million) for last month, rising 2 percent year-on-year and 17 percent month-on-month. The result was Lite-On’s best performance in the past six months, company data showed. The company attributed the result to stable demand for LED products and components. Its cloud-computing business also lent support to the result, Lite-On said. The company’s accumulative consolidated revenue in the first six months was NT$104.4 billion, 1 percent higher than the same period last year.
CHIPMAKERS
TSMC meets its forecast
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a 15.6 percent month-on-month increase in revenue for last month, helping the world’s largest contract chipmaker meet its second-quarter forecast. Revenue last month rose to NT$84.19 billion from NT$72.8 billion in May. Last quarter, revenue totaled NT$213.86 billion, hitting the low end of the company’s forecast of between NT$213 billion and NT$216 billion. The figure represented a quarterly decline of 8.57 percent from NT$233.91 billion in the first quarter. Local rival United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) yesterday said its revenue rose 4.2 percent last month to NT$13.1 billion from May’s NT$12.51 billion. Last quarter, revenue increased 0.32 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$37.54 billion from NT$37.42 billion. That beat the company’s expectation of a flattish second quarter.
CHIPMAKERS
Price rises boost Nanya
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the nation’s biggest DRAM chipmaker, yesterday said its revenue rose 1.9 percent last month to NT$4.19 billion, compared with NT$4.12 billion in May. That represented 36.98 percent year-on-year growth, according to a company statement. In the second quarter, revenue rose 3.22 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$12.63 billion due to price increases, it said. Nanya Technology said in May that a chip shortage would worsen this quarter as supply cannot catch up with rising seasonal demand for smartphones and consumer electronics. The company expects prices to rise 10 percent as demand is expected to increase 1 percent faster than supply. The chipmaker plans to release detailed financial results and to give its business outlook during an investors’ conference on Monday next week.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Hua Nan earns NT$1.65bn
State-run Hua Nan Financial Holding Co (華南金控) earned NT$1.65 billion in net income last month, led by its banking arm Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行), the bank-focused conglomerate said in a statement. The lender generated NT$1.6 billion in net profit last month, accounting for 97.02 percent of overall income, although other subsidiaries also made contributions amid an improving economy at home and abroad, the company said.
HOSPITALITY
FDC posts higher revenue
Hotel and restaurant operator FDC International Hotels Corp (雲品國際) yesterday posted revenue of NT$108 million for last month, an improvement of 8.52 percent from the same period last year on the back of better food and beverage sales. The hotelier in May acquired two eateries in New Taipei City and Taoyuan, allowing it to increase banquet sales, it said in a statement.
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],”
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
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