ELECTRONICS
HTC revenue dives
HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday reported revenue of NT$3.4 billion (US$115.7 million) for last month, a 27.03 percent plunge from NT$4.66 billion in the same period last year. The result represented the company’s lowest monthly sales in the past six months, HTC’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange said. The company launched its all-in-one Vive Focus virtual reality headset last month, which has not yet significantly contributed to the company’s revenue performance, market analysts said.
ELECTRONICS
Delta launches 8k projector
Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), the nation’s leading power and thermal management solutions provider, yesterday launched the world’s first 8K-resolution 25,000 lumen projector along with Digital Projection International Ltd, an associate of Delta and a provider of high-caliber display solutions. “The development of the 8K projector strengthens Delta’s technological leadership in the display industry and cements our partnership with Digital Projection,” Delta’s display solutions business unit general manger Jeff Fu (傅潔) said in a statement.
CHIPMAKERs
Vanguard approves payout
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進), which commands a 30 percent share of the global LCD panel controller chip market, said its board on Monday approved a cash dividend of NT$3 per common share. The distribution is similar to the previous year’s payout and equivalent to a dividend yield of 4.98 percent, compared with the stock’s closing price of NT$60.2 yesterday.
MANUFACTURING
Tight market benefits suppliers
Several passive components suppliers saw their revenues for last month exceed market expectations amid higher customer demand and a tight market supply. Yageo Corp (國巨) on Monday reported that revenue grew 44.77 percent year-on-year to NT$3.54 billion last month, up for the seventh consecutive month, and Walsin Technology Corp’s (華新科) revenue rose 44.1 percent annually to NT$2.22 billion, exceeding expectations and hitting a record high. Viking Tech Corp (光頡) posted record revenue of NT$208.88 million, up 52.33 percent from a year earlier, companies’ filings with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
ENERGY
CPC blast probe released
Preliminary investigations suggested that a malfunctioning altitude control valve led to a gas explosion at state-run CPC Corp, Taiwan’s (CPC, 台灣中油) refinery in Taoyuan last week, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement yesterday. CPC failed to suspend the operation of the heating furnace immediately after the malfunction, the ministry said, adding that human error resulted in damage to furnace pipelines.
CHIPMAKERs
Nanya posts monthly growth
DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday posted 3.03 percent monthly growth in revenue for last month to NT$6.15 billion, compared with NT$6 billion in December last year. The figure, an 11-year-high since January 2007, was helped by the constant increase in chip prices. The chipmaker’s revenue soared 51.14 percent from NT$4.07 billion a year earlier. Nanya expects DRAM chip prices to increase mildly this quarter, extending its gains. That could help boost the company’s gross margin from last quarter, the company said.
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],”