Inventec Corp (英業達), an assembler of Apple Inc’s AirPods and HomePods, remains optimistic about its shipments of “smart” devices this quarter, despite Apple delaying the launch of the HomePod to the first quarter of next year.
“Total shipments of Inventec’s smart devices this quarter is to outpace last quarter by a mid-single-digit percentage as we forecast, reaching a peak for this year,” an Inventec official said by telephone.
Inventec’s plants in Shanghai and Nanjing, China, are running at their full capacity to meet robust demand for smart devices this quarter, the official added.
The US company earlier this month pushed the release date of its Siri-powered HomePod smart speaker from next month to early next year, saying in a statement that “it needs more time before the product is ready for customers.”
The HomePod is to be released in the US, the UK and Australia early next year, the statement said.
Investors have been worried that the delayed launch of the HomePod would negatively affect Inventec’s shipments of smart devices this quarter, as the company is the main assembler for the product.
Inventec shares have fallen 2.17 percent in the past month, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
“Investors might have overreacted. The shipment schedules for Inventec’s smart devices across the board remain unchanged this quarter,” the official said.
Inventec’s smartphones and wireless earpieces would be the main growth engines for the smart devices business this quarter, while shipments of smart speakers were expected to be limited in the initial stages, the official said.
The firm’s largest smartphone client, China’s Xiaomi Corp (小米), announced that it reached its annual shipment forecast of 70 million handsets last month, two months ahead of schedule.
Inventec and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) each have a 50 percent share of smartphone orders from Xiaomi, according to industry sources.
Although Inventec declined to specify its wireless earpieces client, it is widely believed that Inventec receives 100 percent of the orders for Apple’s AirPods, an estimated of 20 million units a year, industry sources told the Taipei Times.
Inventec Appliance Co (英華達) chief executive David Ho (何代水) on Nov. 9 told investors that Inventec is expected to achieve its annual target of shipping 70 million smart devices by the end of this year.
Inventec’s smart devices segment accounted for 19.2 percent of its total revenue of NT$123.96 billion (US$4.13 billion) last quarter, company data showed.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last