ENTERTAINMENT
M17 to make NYSE debut
M17 Entertainment Ltd (M17娛樂集團), the parent company of live music streaming platform 17 Media, is scheduled to make its US debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wednesday next week. The Taipei-based company aims to raise US$95 million by offering 7.51 million American depositary receipts at US$10 to US$12, according to the terms of its initial public offering. M17 Entertainment, founded by Jeffrey Huang (黃立成), provides live music streaming and dating app services, mainly in Asia.
ELECTRONICS
Team Group revenue to rise
Team Group Inc (十銓科技), a supplier of memory modules and electronics, yesterday said revenue for this year could rise up to 40 percent from last year, driven by demand for embedded-related, gaming and industrial control products. The Taipei-based company said it plans to in September apply with the Taiwan Stock Exchange for an initial public offering before making a local debut by the end of this year. It reported net profit of NT$242 million (US$8.1 million) for last year, up 84 percent year-on-year, with earnings per share of NT$4.79.
MANUFACTURING
Sentiment up in April: TIER
Sentiment regarding the local manufacturing sector improved in April as exports grew at a double-digit percentage from a year ago, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said in a report yesterday. The composite index for the manufacturing sector rose 1.25 from a month earlier to 11.7, ending two straight months of declines, the institute said. The general business climate, pricing and demand — three of the five factors that make up the composite index for the sector — moved higher, the institute said.
PETROLEUM
CPC to increase LNG prices
State-run refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said it has decided to increase prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) products this month, while keeping the prices for liquefied petroleum gas products unchanged. From today, average prices for LNG products are to increase by NT$0.31 per cubic meter, or 2.99 percent, from last month, CPC said. As a result, an average LNG consumption of between 30m3 and 45m3 per month would mean increased costs of between NT$9.3 and NT$13.95 per household, it said.
MOBILE
Ichia revenue falls 6 percent
Handset keypad maker Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) yesterday reported revenue of NT$637 million for last month, down 6 percent from a year earlier and 10 percent from April, as orders from clients began to pick up steam. Last month’s revenue included about NT$509 million in sales of flexible printed circuit integrated components and about NT$130 million from mechanical integrated components, Ichia said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
FINANCE
Assets of OBUs drop 2.3%
The 60 offshore banking units (OBUs) of financial institutions operating in Taiwan had assets totaling US$203.92 billion as of the end of April, down US$4.746 billion, or 2.3 percent, from March, the central bank said on Thursday. The OBUs of 37 local banks held US$181.128 billion in assets, while foreign banks’ 23 OBUs held US$22.792 billion, it said. At the end of April, the primary uses of all OBUs’ funds were discounts and loans, amounting to US$80.678 billion, or 39.6 percent of total assets, it added.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day