ELECTRONICS
Taiwan dominates Apple list
A total of 45 Taiwanese enterprises are listed among Apple Inc’s top 200 suppliers worldwide, the most of any nation, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday, citing the US company’s latest supply chain report. In addition to existing key suppliers, such as Largan Precision Co (大立光) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), five Taiwanese firms made the list for the first time, including Jarllytec Co (兆利), Kinsus Interconnect Technology Corp (景碩) and Advanced International Multitech Co (明安).
SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC sales hit 10-month low
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that sales last month fell to a 10-month low of NT$64.64 billion (US$2.2 billion) due to fewer working days. Cumulative sales in the first two months of the year slid 2.5 percent year-on-year to NT$144.38 billion, TSMC said. United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) posted NT$11.91 billion in sales for last month, down 9.6 percent from January. Sales in the first two months rose 1.7 percent to NT$25.08 billion.
RESTAURANTS
Wowprime plans dividend
Restaurant chain operator Wowprime Corp (王品) yesterday said its board has approved a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$5.5 based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$6.01. The proposed dividend, if approved by shareholders on May 30, would be an increase from NT$3.5 a year earlier. As Wowprime shares yesterday closed at NT$130.50, the proposed dividend translated into a dividend yield of 4.2 percent. Net profit last year grew 43.1 percent from a year earlier to NT$463 million, although sales decreased 1.81 percent to NT$15.81 billion, it said.
GARMENTS
Quang Viet to pay dividends
Garment maker Quang Viet Enterprise Co (廣越企業) plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$4.56, representing a payout ratio of 89.94 percent based on last year’s earnings of NT$5.07 per share, the company said yesterday. The proposed dividend translated into a dividend yield of 3.55 percent based on yesterday’s closing price of NT$128.50. Despite annual sales growth of 12.8 percent to NT$10.2 billion last year, net profit dropped 25 percent to NT$523.95 million, which the firm attributed to rising labor costs and foreign-exchange losses of about NT$70 million. Quang Viet is to hold its annual shareholders’ meeting on June 21.
AUTOMOTIVE
Hota revenue rises 4.28%
Buoyed by orders from automakers, transmissions maker Hota Industrial Manufacturing Co (和大) on Thursday reported revenue of NT$1.14 billion for the first two months of the year, up 4.28 percent from the same period last year and a new high for the two-month period. Hota’s revenue for this month is expected to set a monthly high due to deferred shipments and new orders, analysts said.
AIRLINES
Tigerair offers new scheme
Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan Ltd (台灣虎航) yesterday said that travelers can pay in cash at convenience stores for tickets costing less than NT$20,000 bought online, a first for international airlines in Taiwan. Ticket buyers would receive a code once they confirm a booking online, which they can input within three hours at kiosks in Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), Hi-Life International Co (萊爾富) or OK Mart (OK超商) convenience stores.
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
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