CONSUMPTION
CPI spikes, but inflation low
Despite a spike in the nation’s consumer price index (CPI) last month, inflation has not risen, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) said yesterday. In a finance committee hearing at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, Chu said a year-on-year jump of 2.19 percent was seasonal, as the Lunar New Year holiday fell during that month. Payments to babysitters rose 8.93 percent from a year earlier, while education and entertainment expenses grew 1.81 percent, DGBAS data showed. However, after seasonal adjustments, Taiwan’s consumer price growth remained in check, he said, adding that in the first two months, the CPI grew 1.54 percent, within the government’s target range of 2 percent.
MANUFACTURING
Cryomax to debut on TWSE
Cryomax Cooling System Corp (吉茂精密), which primarily makes copper radiators, yesterday announced plans to make its debut on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) in the middle of next month. The company, whose shares dropped 1.09 percent to NT$23.59 yesterday on the over-the-counter Taipei Exchange’s Emerging Stock Market, was founded in 1984 with paid-in capital of NT$600.42 million (US$20.5 million). Cryomax’s major shareholders include Japan-based Denso Corp, a tier-one supplier in the global automotive industry.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Canadian festival planned
Caesar Park Banciao (板橋凱薩飯店), the flagship property of Caesar Park Hotels and Resorts (凱撒飯店連鎖), is to team up with the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, the Canadian Meat Association and Air Canada to launch a Canadian food festival on Tuesday next week that is to run until April 15. The month-long event is intended to promote Canada’s cuisine and tourist attractions. Chef Quentin Glabus, who formerly worked at the Canadian embassies in Japan and Beijing, is to demonstrate how he prepares a variety of ingredients and dishes. Guests can join a draw to win round-trip airline tickets to Canada.
TELECOMS
Chunghwa profit up 1.6%
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) yesterday posted NT$2.98 billion net profit for last month, matching the company’s financial forecast, the company said in a statement. That translated into earnings per share of NT$0.38. Revenue totaled NT$17.95 billion. The figures were based on the new IFRS 15 accounting rules. Excluding the accounting rules’ effects, net profit last month rose year-on-year to NT$3.12 billion, or NT$0.4 per share. Revenue increased 1.6 percent year-on-year to NT$18.06 billion last month. As of last month, subscribers of Chunghwa’s Multimedia on Demand service increased to 1.67 million. Mobile subscribers climbed to 8.4 million, helping to boost the company’s value-added-service ratio to 59.8 percent last month.
ELECTRONICS
TPK agrees NT$3 dividend
Touch panel maker TPK Holding Co Ltd (宸鴻) yesterday said its board of directors has approved a cash dividend distribution of NT$3 per common share, representing a payout ratio of about 45 percent. The company last year swung back to the black with a net profit of NT$2.4 billion, or earnings per share of NT$6.63. The cash dividend distribution is subject to shareholder approval during the annual meeting scheduled for May 29.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San