ELECTRONICS
Inventec revenue expands
Contract electronics maker Inventec Corp (英業達) yesterday said that revenue last month expanded 9.84 percent year-on-year to NT$41.49 billion (US$1.38 billion) on steady shipments of notebook computers and better-than-expected shipments of servers and handheld devices. That brought cumulative sales in the first eight months of this year to NT$291.8 billion, up 5.6 percent from the same period last year, the company said. Inventec said growth momentum of its notebooks, servers and smart devices would continue this month, making this quarter the peak season this year.
BANKING
Mega reports income
State-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) reported NT$2.26 billion in net income for last month, with the banking subsidiary generating 84 percent of the total, the conglomerate said in a statement on Thursday. Main subsidiary Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行) accounted for NT$1.9 billion of the profit, while Mega Bills Finance Corp (兆豐票券) contributed NT$245 million, the statement said without elaborating. Overall, Mega Financial accumulated NT$2.17 billion in net income for the first eight months of the year, or earnings of NT$1.46 per share.
APPAREL
Quang Viet revenue rises
Garment manufacturer Quang Viet Enterprise Co (廣越) yesterday posted revenue of NT$1.76 billion for last month, a 13.75 percent rise from a year earlier. The increase was stimulated by increasing orders from its major brand customers, bringing cumulative revenue in the first eight months of this year to NT$5.61 billion, up 1.61 percent from the same period last year, the company said in a statement. Quang Viet expects its full-year sales to grow by between 10 percent and 15 percent from last year’s NT$9.04 billion on robust orders in the second half.
AUTO PARTS
Tong Yang sales rise 5%
Auto parts maker Tong Yang Industry Co (東陽) yesterday reported consolidated sales of NT$2.05 billion for last month, up 5 percent from a year earlier, as demand in the global auto market remained strong. From January to last month, accumulated sales increased 2 percent to NT$15.98 billion from the same period last year. The company expects sales to grow further next quarter, Tong Yang said in a statement, citing new orders from its major Chinese customers.
SCOOTERS
Gogoro has 412 GoStations
Electric scooter maker Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) yesterday said the company has set up 412 battery-swapping GoStations across the nation after focusing on installing battery-swapping stations since the introduction of its first GoStation in Taipei in 2015.
STOCKS
TIP signs ETF deal
Taiwan Index Plus Corp (TIP, 台灣指數), a wholly owned subsidiary of Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (臺灣證券交易所), yesterday said it has signed an agreement with First Securities Investment Trust Co (第一金投信) for the issuance of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the INE30, which comprises 30 of the largest industrial stocks in Taiwan. Taiwan Index Plus said the new ETFs are expected to hit the market in the first half of next year. Its data showed the returns of the INE30 hit 22.41 percent from Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, outperforming the TAIEX’s 18.52 percent rise over the same period.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to