MANUFACTURING
TSMC revenue hits record
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported a record-high revenue for last month. Consolidated revenue rose 6.7 percent month-on-month and 3.8 percent year-on-year to NT$94.52 billion (US$3.13 million), the company said in a statement. In the first 10 months of this year, TSMC’s consolidated revenue totaled NT$794.4 billion, up 2.3 percent from the same period last year, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said. TSMC forecast revenue this quarter to increase by about 10 percent from NT$252.11 billion last quarter, driven by the ramp-up of chips made on its advanced 10 nanometer process technology.
ELECTRONICS
Lite-On revenue down
Electronics components maker Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday posted consolidated revenue of NT$17.64 billion for last month, down 11 percent monthly and 14 percent annually. Optoelectronics posted annual growth of about 20 percent last month and contributed a 21 percent share of the firm’s total revenue, while information technology accounted for 56 percent of its sales, the firm said in a statement. Despite a stable end-demand for its core businesses, the company’s cumulative revenue in the first 10 months of the year were NT$178.03 billion, a 4.7 percent year-on-year decrease, it said.
TECHNOLOGY
Accton profit increases
Accton Technology Corp (智邦科技), a local maker of computer networking equipment such as routers, yesterday reported net profit of NT$651 million for last quarter, or earnings per share of NT$1.2. Accumulated profit for the first three quarters reached NT$1.937 billion, up 42.76 percent year-on-year, with earnings per share of NT$3.56. The company said it benefited from a rising global demand for cloud-computing applications in the third quarter and expects steady business operations for this quarter.
REAL ESTATE
Sinyi Realty up on recovery
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only publicly listed real-estate broker, yesterday said its third-quarter profit surged 414 percent from the same period last year, thanks to earnings generated from a housing project in Shanghai and a recovering market in Taiwan. Net income stood at NT$1.03 billion during the July-to-September period, or earnings per share of NT$1.58, while revenue increased 161 percent annually to NT$5.2 billion. The project in Shanghai generated revenue of NT$3.2 billion and contributed NT$830 million in net income last quarter, the broker said. In the first three quarters of this year, accumulated net income totaled NT$2.27 billion, up 554 percent year-on-year, with earnings per share of NT$3.48, and revenue rose 157 percent to NT$14.5 billion over the same period, it said.
CONTACT LENSES
St Shine Optical sets high
Contact lens supplier St Shine Optical Co (精華光學) on Thursday reported net profit of NT$497 million for last quarter, up 11.6 percent from last year, with earnings per share of NT$9.85, while revenue was NT$1.773 billion, up 3.2 percent annually, according to the company’s Taiwan Stock Exchange filing. Profit and revenue set new quarterly highs and beat Capital Securities Corp’s (群益證券) estimates. In the first three quarters of the year, earnings per share totaled NT$23.68, the company said. St Shine’s order backlog will likely remaining full from now until the end of the year, the company said in a note yesterday.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”