ELECTRONICS
Delta sales surge 39%
Power electronics and energy management supplier Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday reported that sales last month rose 39 percent month-on-month and 1 percent year-on-year to NT$18.56 billion (US$635.8 million), bringing aggregate revenue in the first quarter to NT$50.87 billion, 4 percent higher than the previous year. Last month, power electronics contributed 47 percent of sales, followed by 34 percent for infrastructure and 19 percent for automation, the company said, adding that it is upbeat on growth in its automation and automotive electronics businesses. Delta Electronics shares closed unchanged at NT$127.5 in Taipei trading yesterday.
ELECTRONICS
Lite-On posts lower Q1 sales
Electronic module supplier Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday reported sales of NT$18.98 billion for last month, 46 percent higher than February, but a 1 percent fall compared with the previous year. Aggregate sales in the first quarter dipped 5.4 percent year-on-year to NT$48.53 billion. The company said that sales of information technology, its biggest business, representing 49 percent of revenue last month, rose nearly 10 percent on the back of robust demand for cloud computing servers, networking, power management and artificial intelligence applications. Robust demand in Middle Eastern markets also propelled a 10 percent month-on-month gain in the LED business, it said. Lite-On shares closed up 0.25 percent at NT$40.5 in Taipei trading yesterday.
APPAREL
Quang Viet revenue surges
Garment maker Quang Viet Enterprise Co (廣越) yesterday posted sales of NT$473.76 million for last month, a 54.38 percent year-on-year increase from NT$306.88 million supported by increasing orders from its global clients. That brought the company’s cumulative revenue in the first quarter to a record high of NT$1.16 billion, up 47.72 percent from NT$786.85 million the previous year. Quang Viet president Charles Wu (吳朝筆) in a statement said that the company’s profitability should improve further this year as it plans to raise the average selling price of its products by tapping into more profitable segments such as functional fabrics. The company added that it has observed an uptick in sales at its major customers Adidas, Nike, Puma, The North Face and Patagonia. Quang Viet Enterprise shares gained 2.48 percent to close at NT$124 in Taipei trading yesterday.
TRADE
Epoxy resin dumping probed
India is to initiate an anti-dumping duty investigation into epoxy resin imports from Taiwan and four other nations, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Taiwan last year ranked the third-largest exporter to India in the sector with a market share of 10.37 percent, behind South Korea and Thailand, the Bureau of Foreign Trade said in a statement. Taiwanese epoxy resin shipments to India last year totaled US$10.41 million, the bureau said, citing Global Trade Atlas statistics.
RESTAURANTS
Wowprime sales up 10.81%
Restaurant chain operator Wowprime Corp (王品) yesterday reported that sales last month rose 10.81 percent year-on-year to NT$1.3 billion from NT$1.17 billion thanks to promotional campaigns. However, the company posted cumulative revenue of NT$4.08 billion, down 0.55 percent from NT$4.1 billion. Wowprime shares closed unchanged at NT$130 in Taipei trading yesterday.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is