MICROECONOMICS
Foreign reserves hit high
The nation’s foreign-exchange reserves as of the end of last month hit a new high for the 12th consecutive month, largely on the back of an increase in returns on funds managed by the central bank from a month earlier. However, the euro’s depreciation against the US dollar offset the effects of higher investment returns to slow the monthly growth in the foreign reserves, the bank said on Tuesday. As of the end of last month, foreign reserves stood at US$457.19 billion, up US$467 million from the end of February. The growth was shy of a month-on-month rise of US$997 million in February, central bank data showed.
ELECTRONICS
Ichia revenue up 63 percent
Handset keypad maker Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) on Tuesday posted revenue of NT$614 million (US$21 million) for last month, up 9 percent from a year ago and 63 percent from the previous month. The company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange that last month’s revenue included about NT$488 million in sales of flexible printed circuit integrated components and about NT$131 million from mechanical integrated components. The company said its first-quarter revenue expanded 8 percent year-on-year to NT$1.59 billion, driven mostly by flexible printed circuit boards used in mobile devices and automotive parts.
SOLAR
GET sales down 9 percent
Green Energy Technology Inc (GET, 綠能科技), the nation’s largest solar wafer maker, on Tuesday reported sales of NT$851 million last month, up 5.8 percent month-on-month, but down 9 percent year-on-year. In the first quarter, sales totaled NT$2.62 billion, down 23.4 percent quarterly and 0.28 percent annually, it said in a statement. “In spite of concerns over industry trading barriers, pricing in the solar supply-chain is stabilizing. GET’s in-house capacity utilization was about 90 percent last month,” it said. The company plans to speed up module development with support from its parent company, Tatung Group (大同), to extend its downstream business in global high-end markets, it said.
AVIATION
Mandarin launch new route
Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) on Monday announced that it would start flying between Taichung and Tokyo in June, the first airline to fly the route. The airline is to offer a daily flight from June 14, with the outbound flight departing from Taichung International Airport at 7:30am and arriving at Narita Interntiaonal Airport at noon. Flights from Japan are to take off at 1pm and arrive in Taichung at 3:50pm, said the airline, a subsidiary of China Airlines Ltd (中華航空).
E-COMMERCE
Momo to distribute dividend
TV and online retailer Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體) has proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$8 per share, representing a payout ratio of 88.2 percent based on last year’s earnings per share (EPS) of NT$9.07. The company said it expects strengthening sales momentum for this year, after combined sales in the first two months this year grew 36.6 percent annually to NT$6.94 billion. Meanwhile, Eastern Home Shopping & Leisure Co (EHS, 東森購物) plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$4 per share, based on EPS of NT$3.2 last year. In the first two months of this year, it posted sales of NT$2.34 billion and EPS of NT$0.9, EHS said.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure