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.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San