SEMICONDUCTORS
King Yuan revenue up 4.5%
King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電子), an IC testing service provider, yesterday reported that revenue last month increased 4.5 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.72 billion (US$56.39 million), the highest in nine months, as the semiconductor industry entered a high season. In the first six months of this year, cumulative revenue totaled NT$9.62 billion on a consolidated basis, down 0.93 percent from the same period last year, the Hsinchu-based company said. Improving demand for applications for automotive electronics, the Internet of Things and high-performance computing is expected to drive King Yuan’s sales growth in the second half of the year, analysts said.
OPTICAL MODULES
Newmax sales hit NT$149m
Optical module supplier Newmax Technology Co (新鉅科) yesterday reported consolidated sales of NT$149 million for last month, up 127.09 percent from a year earlier and the highest monthly revenue since March 2014. In the first half of this year, cumulative sales totaled NT$506 million, up 7.84 percent year-on-year, the company said. Newmax, which has worked with Microsoft Corp to develop 3D sensing lenses for Kinect gaming consoles, said it is developing 3D sensing lenses for smartphones, robots, virtual reality and augmented reality devices after making China’s Q Technology (Group) Co Ltd (丘鈦科技) a strategic investor via a private placement late last year.
BANKING
Changhwa opens in Manilla
State-run Changhwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) on Tuesday opened a new branch in Manila, as the lender seeks to bolster its presence in Southeast Asia. The new branch would allow the lender to capitalize on the nation’s fast-growing economy and support the government’s New Southbound Policy, which encourages Taiwanese firms to cut their dependence on China. Infrastructure enhancement projects in ASEAN members could generate US$8 trillion of investment, while consumer spending could total US$2.3 trillion, according to the lender, which has 12 branches overseas.
OPTICAL DEVICES
Innolux ships 3.82m panels
Innolux Corp (群創) shipped 3.82 million TV panels in May, up 42.5 percent from a month earlier, market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. The company also launched discount price packages to lower inventories of its 39.5-inch and 50-inch TV screens, the Taipei-based researcher said. China’s BOE Technology Group Co (京東方科技) took the top spot after shipping 4.77 million TV panels in May, up 19 percent from a month earlier, the report said. LG Display Co of South Korea came third after shipping 3.64 million TV screens, down 7 percent from a month earlier, it said.
MINING
Hu released from prison
Stern Hu (胡士泰), a former head of Rio Tinto Group’s iron ore unit in China, was yesterday freed from prison after his sentencing in 2010 on charges of taking bribes and obtaining commercial secrets, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Web site said. Hu, an Australian citizen, and three Chinese colleagues convicted on the same charges were fired by Rio following a trial that was held partially behind closed doors. Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop welcomed Hu’s release in an e-mailed statement: “Australian consular officials in China will continue to provide consular assistance to Mr Hu and his family for as long as it is needed.” Rio Tinto declined to comment.
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
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
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],”
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts