ELECTRONICS
New products boost TPK
TPK Holding Co (宸鴻), which supplies touch modules for Apple Inc’s smartwatches and iPads, yesterday posted revenue that rose 2.02 percent to NT$10.25 billion (US$340.5 million) for last month, compared with NT$10.05 billion the previous year, benefiting from new product launches by its customers. That represented about a 7 percent month-on-month increase from NT$9.58 billion in July. TPK said that 25 to 30 percent quarterly growth in revenue for this quarter is achievable, indicating that revenue could hit NT$28 billion to NT$29 billion. In the first eight months of the year, TPK’s revenue jumped 14.1 percent to NT$63.66 billion, from NT$55.79 billion the previous year.
BANKING
King’s Town income rises
Tainan-based King’s Town Bank (京城銀行) yesterday reported that its net income last month rose 14.4 percent year-on-year to NT$516 million, bringing profits in the first eight months to NT$3.79 billion, up 20.5 percent from the previous year. Earnings per share during the January-to-August period were NT$3.3. The company attributed the gain to a rise in lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as growth in investment profits.
BANKING
Local banks eye new system
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday said that a number of large local banks have expressed an interest in transitioning to a risk-based regulatory system. Three foreign banks have already transitioned to the new system, while local lenders can join in January next year, the commission said. Under the new system, compliance requirements are determined by the level of risk associated with specific products and businesses, as opposed to standardized and routine audits, the commission said. Foreign banks have been quicker to adopt the system as are governed by the same approach in other markets.
AUTOMATION
Delta touts production line
Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) is to showcase its newest high-flexibility multi-tasking smart production line at the Taipei International Industrial Automation Exhibition tomorrow, as the company seeks to demonstrate its technological capability in industrial automation, Delta said in a statement yesterday. The latest solutions integrate Delta’s hardware and software to provide a smart, multi-tasking product line for customized production, the company said.
RESIN MAKERS
Swancor bullish on outlook
Resin maker Swancor Holding Co Ltd (上緯) yesterday posted a pre-tax profit of NT$45.07 million for last month, or earnings per share of NT$0.5, according to a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. That represented an 86.9 percent increase from NT$24.12 million in the same period last year, primarily due to improving demand. Swancor remains optimistic about its business outlook on the back of increasing orders from Goldwind Science and Technology Co (金風科技), China’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, company officials said last month.
HOSPITALITY
Hanazono to revamp menu
Taipei Garden Hotel’s (台北花園大酒店) Japanese restaurant, Hanazono, is to launch a new menu to shore up hot pot sales as the weather turns cooler. The restaurant is seeking to increase its revenue by between 10 and 20 percent with the launch of the new menu on Friday, assistant director of marketing and communications Blythe Chao (趙芝綺) said.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure