Hiwin Technologies Co (上銀科技) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter soared more than fourfold to NT$1.22 billion (US$40.84 million) from NT$286 million a year ago, as customer demand remained strong.
Earnings per share increased from NT$1.01 to NT$4.34 over the period, the machinery maker’s data showed.
First-quarter operating income skyrocketed 210 percent to NT$1.4 billion from NT$452 million for the same period last year, on sales of NT$6.55 billion, up 52 percent from NT$4.3 billion a year earlier.
Gross margin rose to a record-high 40 percent, which the company attributed to higher product prices because of the continuing undersupply of key machinery parts.
The Taipei-based company, which has four plants in Taiwan, plants and research and development centers in three other nations, and branches in six more, produces transmission components used in machinery equipment, with linear guideways and ball screws contributing 57 percent and 25 percent respectively to its total sales last quarter.
Hiwin chairman Eric Chuo (卓永財) said he is optimistic about the firm’s near-term outlook and expects a more solid position in Japan this year.
“Hiwin will likely become the second-largest transmission components supplier in Japan this year,” Chuo told reporters after an investors’ conference, adding that the company has secured ￥10 billion (US$91.32 million) of orders from Japanese clients so far this year.
Chuo did not give a whole-year sales forecast for Hiwin’s Japanese subsidiary, but said the number would definitely be higher than last year’s nearly ￥5 billion.
Hiwin, which began last year to supply machinery components for leading Japanese automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co, is to make a decision next month about whether to build a plant in Kobe.
Hiwin has teamed up with Mitsubishi Electric Corp to promote smart manufacturing solutions featuring direct drive motors and high-end CNC controllers.
The firm said it is also expanding capacity in Taiwan, South Korea and Italy, focusing on the development of new products, such as components used in automotive electronic power steering systems, while planning the commercial production of smart ball screws, which will be equipped with sensors to signal short circuits.
Hiwin, with paid-in capital of NT$2.8 billion, said its board has agreed to issue 12 million new shares to improve its financial structure, but has yet to set a price for the new shares.
The company’s capital expenditure this year would be higher than last year’s NT$5.4 billion, associate vice president Leo Liao (廖克皇) said, without elaborating.
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
MORE WEIGHT: The national weighting was raised in one index while holding steady in two others, while several companies rose or fell in prominence MSCI Inc, a global index provider, has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices and left the country’s weighting unchanged in two other indices after a regular index review. In a statement released on Thursday, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent. Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent. The latest index adjustments are to
RSS