A US-based brokerage has cut its target price for shares of Largan Precision Co (大立光), a supplier of smartphone camera lenses to Apple Inc, to below NT$3,000, citing weak demand for iPhones.
In a research note released on Monday, the brokerage said it has reduced its target price for Largan shares to NT$2,800 from NT$3,200 after it cut its forecast for iPhone shipments for the first half of this year.
Shipments of iPhones, which accounts for about 40 percent of Largan’s total sales, are expected to hit 52 million units in the first quarter of this year, lower than the brokerage’s previous forecast of 55 million units.
Shipments of iPhones are expected to reach 42 million units in the second quarter, also lower than the brokerage’s earlier forecast of 45 million units.
Largan shares yesterday closed unchanged at NT$3,185 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange as bargain-hunting helped the stock recover from an early low of NT$3,005.
The stock fell 4.93 percent on Monday, which sparked concerns that Largan shares could dip below NT$3,000 soon. They are down 47 percent from their all-time intraday high of NT$6,075 in August last year.
Apple is likely to adopt single-lens cameras in its upcoming iPhones, which is not favorable for Largan as its biggest competitive edge lies in dual and multiple lens production, the brokerage 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],”