SEMICONDUCTORS
Worldwide billings up: SEMI
North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment last month reported worldwide billings of US$2.41 billion, international trade group SEMI said in a news release yesterday. The three-month average of worldwide billings for last month was 1.7 percent more than January’s US$2.36 billion and up 22.2 percent from US$1.97 billion in the same period last year, the group said. SEMI Taiwan president Terry Tsao (曹世綸) said the group is positive about this year’s global semiconductor equipment spending and expects a fourth consecutive year of spending growth, which last occurred in the 1990s.
CHIPMAKERS
Ali yearly losses continue
Ali Corp (揚智), a developer of set-top box chips, yesterday reported a third straight year of losses, which it attributed to a shortage of memory chips and rising prices of passive components. Sales last year decreased 6 percent year-on-year to NT$3.19 billion (US$109.39 million) and gross margin declined 8 percentage points to 29 percent, with net losses totaling NT$469 million, or net losses per share of NT$1.6, the company said. Ali president Daniel Huang (黃學偉) told an investors’ conference that the company maintains a positive outlook due to improving demand from pay-TV operators, especially in most emerging markets, that would help boost the company’s business this year.
ADVERTISING
United Advertising profit up
United Advertising Co (聯廣), which debuted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) on Friday last week, yesterday said its board has approved a cash dividend of NT$3 per share, after the company posted net income of NT$93 million last year, down 4.1 percent year-on-year, with earnings per share of NT$3.09, down 6.4 percent from a year earlier. Revenue last year edged down 0.3 percent to NT$2.36 billion, the company said, but added that it is upbeat on this year’s business prospects due to new entertainment products from its new brand customers. United Advertising shares yesterday closed at NT$47.3, up 0.42 percent from the previous session and up 2.83 percent from its initial public offering price of NT$46 on Friday.
SEMICONDUCTORS
TWSE approves ASE listing
The TWSE on Tuesday approved ASE Industrial Holding Co’s (日月光投資控股) application to list on the main board. Shares of the company, which owns Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) and Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密), are to start trading tomorrow under ticker number 3711, while its American depositary receipts are to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange from tomorrow as well. ASE and SPIL are scheduled to be delisted from the two stock exchanges tomorrow, but they would maintain their independent operations.
CLOTHING
Makalot to issue dividend
Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽), a garment manufacturer for global clothing brands such as Gap and Uniqlo, on Tuesday announced a cash dividend of NT$6 per share, with a payout ratio of 97.09 percent based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$6.18. The company’s sales are forecast to increase 7 percent this year, thanks to a global economic recovery and increased orders from major brand clients and e-commerce retailers, Taishin Securities Investment Advisory Co (台新投顧) said yesterday in a note. Earnings per share might grow 19 percent to NT$7.35, Taishin said.
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
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
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