CHIPMAKERS
TSMC board approves funds
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Apple Inc and Nvidia Inc as its major clients, yesterday said its board of directors approved capital appropriations of about US$4.28 billion for construction of fabs and to expand advanced packaging and specialty technology capacity. The budget is also to be used on conversion of logic capacity to specialty technology, as well as capital investment in the first quarter of next year and sustaining capital expenditure, it added. The board also approved a capital injection of up to US$2 billion to fully owned subsidiary TSMC Global Ltd to reduce foreign exchange hedging costs, the firm said.
SOLAR POWER
Neo Solar losses increase
Solar cell manufacturer Neo Solar Power Energy Corp (新日光能源) yesterday posted quarterly losses of NT$1.72 billion (US$57 million) for last quarter, widening from losses of NT$519 million in the second quarter. Neo Solar in a statement attributed the deeper losses to an impairment loss of NT$896 million and potential lawsuit costs. Operating losses last quarter expanded to NT$1.39 billion, compared with operating losses of NT$677 million a quarter earlier. In the first three quarters of this year, Neo Solar has lost a total of NT$3.55 billion. On an annual basis, the figure improved from losses of NT$1.85 billion in the third quarter of last year, while operating losses also narrowed from NT$1.27 billion a year earlier.
SHOEMAKERS
Pou Chen profit rises 2.1%
Pou Chen Corp (寶成工業), which makes footwear for global brands such as Nike Inc, yesterday reported that net profit rose 2.1 percent year-on-year from NT$8.9 billion to NT$9.08 billion in the first three quarters of the year, backed by stable growth in its core shoemaking business. Earnings per share improved to NT$3.08, compared with NT$3.02 a year earlier, the firm said in a statement. Cumulative revenue over the period edged up 0.5 percent from NT$204.95 billion to NT$206.01 billion on an annual basis. Shoemaking contributed 70 percent of the firm’s overall revenue, while the shoe retailing sector made up nearly 30 percent, company data showed. Pou Chen shares yesterday fell 1.36 percent to close at NT$36.3 in Taipei trading before the release of the results.
AVIATION
CAL, Nordam set up venture
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) yesterday announced the establishment of a Taiwan-based joint venture with Nordam Group Inc. CAL is to hold a 49 percent stake in Nordam Asia Ltd, while its US-based partner is to retain a controlling stake in the venture. The new company is to operate Nordam Group’s sole commercial maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Asia. CAL chairman Ho Nuan-hsuan (何煖軒) said that the plant would improve the carrier’s ability to service its own fleet and aircraft composite material parts, as well as elevate Taiwan’s aerospace sector.
INNOVATION
Technologies win awards
Two technologies developed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute have won CES Innovation Awards and are to be showcased at the trade show in Las Vegas from Jan. 9 to Jan. 12 next year, the institute said in a statement on Monday. The award-winning technologies are an intelligent vision system for companion robots in the “Robotics and Drones” category and a handheld pesticide residue detector in the “Home Appliances” category,the institute said.
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