ELECTRONICS
Largan sales up 4 percent
Smartphone camera lens supplier Largan Precision Co (大立光) yesterday reported that unaudited sales last month rose 4 percent monthly and 17 percent annually to NT$4.51 billion (US$147.68 million). Sales in the first half of the year came to NT$21.17 billion, 4.28 percent lower than a year earlier, the company said. Largan is scheduled to hold its quarterly earnings conference on Thursday next week and investors are likely to focus on the company’s production yield rate and margin expansion as its top line grows.
CASINGS
Catcher upbeat on demand
Catcher Technology Co (可成科技), a metal casing supplier for Apple Inc, yesterday reported revenue of NT$7.2 billion for last month, up 3.6 percent month-on-month, but down 1.2 percent year-on-year. In the first six months, cumulative revenue totaled NT$41.16 billion, up 24.4 percent from a year earlier, the company said. Favorable industry trends of rising metal casing adoption and design complexity are expected to benefit Catcher due to its leading industry position, analysts said.
ELECTRONICS
Acquisition boosts Chilisin
Chilisin Electronics Corp (奇力新), the nation’s largest power inductor manufacturer, yesterday reported record sales of NT$1.71 billion for last month, up 71.65 percent year-on-year, which the company attributed to contribution from its newly acquired subsidiary Layers Scientific-Technics Co Ltd (美磊). In the first six months, cumulative sales totaled NT$7.38 billion, an annual increase of 26.53 percent, Chilisin said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
ELECTRONICS
Getac posts record revenue
Rugged PC vendor Getac Technology Corp (神基) yesterday posted record-high consolidated revenue of NT$2.07 billion for last month, up 14.21 percent year-on-year. In the first half of the year, revenue totaled NT$11.395 billion, up 11.44 percent from a year earlier. Sales in the second half are likely to maintain sequential growth driven by seasonal factors, analysts said.
HOSPITALITY
Humble House in shake-up
My Humble House Hospitality Management Consulting Co (寒舍餐旅) yesterday called a special board meeting and approved the appointment of managing director Wilhelm Tsai (蔡伯翰) as its chairman. Tsai served as acting chairman after Ellie Lai (賴英里) resigned on June 27 for personal reasons. Tsai, who joined the group in 2003, is to double as managing director, while Lai is to remain a board director, the company said.
FOREX
Reserves down US$153m
Foreign-exchange reserves amounted to US$457.12 billion as of the end of last month, a decline of US$153 million from the level in May, the central bank said yesterday. The depreciation of the euro and other currencies against the US dollar more than eroded asset management gains, the bank said.
BANKING
First Bank eyes Jakarta
First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) has obtained approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission to establish a representative office in Jakarta. The bank on Wednesday said it is awaiting approval from Indonesian authorities to set up its 17th office in Southeast Asia. The lender had a representative office in Jakarta before 2000, when it shuttered the office in light of the Asian financial crisis that began in 1997.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”