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.
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (better known as Foxconn) ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose 60 places to reach No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc. at 348th, Pegatron Corp. at 461st, CPC Corp., Taiwan at 494th and Wistron Corp. at 496th. According to Fortune, the world’s
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
DIVERSIFYING: Taiwanese investors are reassessing their preference for US dollar assets and moving toward Europe amid a global shift away from the greenback Taiwanese investors are reassessing their long-held preference for US-dollar assets, shifting their bets to Europe in the latest move by global investors away from the greenback. Taiwanese funds holding European assets have seen an influx of investments recently, pushing their combined value to NT$13.7 billion (US$461 million) as of the end of last month, the highest since 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Over the first half of this year, Taiwanese investors have also poured NT$14.1 billion into Europe-focused funds based overseas, bringing total assets up to NT$134.8 billion, according to data from the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association (SITCA),