Automotive components maker Hota Industrial Manufacturing Co (和大工業) yesterday said it would continue introducing automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to its production lines to catch up with China’s fast-growing electric-vehicle market.
The eighth smart production line at the company’s plant in the Chiayi Dapumei Precision Machinery Park (嘉義大埔美精密機械園區) is scheduled to become operational in June next year at the earliest, local Chinese-language media quoted Hota chairman David Shen (沈國榮) as saying at an annual shareholders’ meeting in Taichung.
Hota, which mainly produces gears and shafts, supplies components to the world’s largest electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc.
Apart from Tesla, Hota is seeking collaboration with some Chinese electric-vehicle manufacturers to expand its customer base, Shen said, as sales of new gasoline and diesel-powered cars are to be banned by 2030 in many nations.
The automotive component supplier posted cumulative revenue of NT$3.01 billion (US$101 million) for the first five months of this year, up 5.89 percent from NT$2.84 billion a year earlier, thanks to an increase in customer demand.
The company reported a net income of NT$279.17 million last quarter, up 9.2 percent from NT$255.67 million a year earlier.
Gross margin last quarter fell to 33.2 percent from 34.8 percent a year earlier, while revenue rose 4.1 percent annually to NT$1.77 billion last quarter from NT$1.7 billion.
Hota shareholders yesterday approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$3.75 per share on last year’s profit of NT$1.21 billion, or earnings per share of NT$4.81.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last