Taiflex Scientific Co (台虹科技), which manufactures flexible printed circuit boards (PCBs) and solar backsheets, on Tuesday reported that net income last quarter dropped to the lowest level in 25 quarters, but its board has still decided to reward shareholders with the largest cash dividend in three years.
Net income in the first quarter of this year fell 2.4 percent year-on-year and 39.76 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$96.94 million (US$3.3 million), with earnings per share falling to NT$0.46, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Gross margin declined 0.32 percentage points annually, but improved 1.01 percentage points quarterly to 19.71 percent, the filing showed.
While Taiflex posted a 19.83 percent increase in sales of electronic materials — including its main product, flexible copper-clad laminate — in the first quarter from a year earlier, consolidated revenue fell 13.54 percent annually to NT$2 billion, which it attributed to a 57.03 percent plunge in sales in its solar business from a year earlier after a fire at its plant in Kunshan, China, on Jan. 25.
Copper-clad laminates are the most popular substrate material for PCBs, essential parts that route electrical signals between electronics.
Near-term revenue and profitability for PCB makers are likely to be negatively affected by slowing smartphone demand, unfavorable foreign exchange rates and rising raw material costs, but positive factors, such as upgrades to PCB specifications and sound supply-demand dynamics for rigid-flex PCBs, remain intact in the long term, analysts said.
Taiflex is scheduled to hold an investors’ conference on May 2 to elaborate its financial results for last quarter, as well as shed light on its sales forecast, factory utilization and business plans for this quarter and the second half of this year.
Despite last quarter’s weaker-than-expected performance, the company’s board on Tuesday decided to distribute a cash dividend of NT$2.5 per common share, based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$3.55, translating to a payout ration of 70.42 percent.
The dividend, if approved by shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting in Kaohsiung on May 29, would be a significant increase from NT$2 in 2016 and NT$2.2 in 2015.
Separately, Iteq Corp (聯茂), which manufactures copper-clad laminates for PCBs, this week reported that first-quarter sales grew 11.17 percent annually to NT$5.69 billion, thanks to rising copper foil prices and more shipments of its halogen-free low-loss products — low dielectric-constant and dissipation-factor materials — for PCBs.
Iteq, which has operations in Hsinchu County’s Sinpu Township (新埔) and Taoyuan’s Pingjhen District (平鎮), as well as China’s Wuxi and Guangzhou, is constructing a new plant in China’s Jiangxi Province to meet rising copper foil substrate demand from Chinese handset vendors.
The plant is scheduled to start mass production next year, local Chinese-language media reported.
Iteq’s board has proposed a cash dividend of NT$3.1, based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$4.11, which would be larger than the payouts of NT$2.5 and NT$1.6 in the previous two years.
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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks