CHIPMAKERS
Macronix revenue slumps
Memorychip maker Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) on Monday reported that its consolidated revenue shrank 9.7 percent to NT$3.75 billion (US$121.09 million) last month from NT$4.15 billion the previous year. In the third quarter, revenue totaled NT$10.04 billion, little changed from NT$10.5 billion in the same period last year, but up 13.06 percent from NT$8.88 billion in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電) reported that its revenue inched up 0.07 percent year-on-year to NT$4.318 billion last month from NT$4.315 billion, with third-quarter revenue of NT$13.678 billion, up 9.03 percent from NT$12.545 billion in the same period last year and 1.39 percent from the second quarter.
AIRLINES
VietJet to offer free flights
Vietnamese airline VietJet yesterday said it is to launch a promotional campaign today offering 70,000 free or discounted tickets for flights to Vietnam from Taiwan and other nations in the region. A random number of tickets for flights from Taiwan are to be offered online each day between 1pm and 3pm, some of them free and some at steeply discounted prices, the budget carrier said, urging people to try their luck on its Web site. However, passengers will be required to pay the flight tax and online booking service fee, even if they obtain a free ticket, the airline said. Tickets procured during the promotional period would be valid for use between Nov. 1 and June 30 next year except for those on the Taichung to Hanoi route, which must be used by March 30 next year, VietJet said. The airline operates 57 round-trip flights per week on seven routes between Taiwan and Vietnam — from Taoyuan, Taichung and Kaohsiung to Hanoi, and from Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to Ho Chi Minh City.
INVESTMENT
Tsai touts Saint Lucia
The government is to encourage top Taiwanese manufacturers to invest in infrastructure in Saint Lucia to help its development and elevate the partnership between Taiwan and the Caribbean nation, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday. Tsai made the remarks at a meeting with Saint Lucian Prime Minister Allen Michael Chastanet, who is in Taipei to participate in today’s Double Ten National Day celebrations, the Presidential Office said. Taiwanese investment in Saint Lucia is based on the principles of reciprocity and mutual assistance, Tsai said, citing as an example an Internet project built by Taiwan to provide free wireless coverage on the Caribbean island. Tsai also thanked Chastanet for voicing his support for Taiwan’s international participation at last year’s UN Climate Change Conference and at this year’s UN General Assembly. Saint Lucia first established diplomatic ties with the Republic of China in 1984, but in 1997 switched recognition to the People’s Republic of China. It severed its ties with Beijing and recognized Taiwan again in 2007 and opened its embassy in Taipei in June 2015.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
NT dollar falls again
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell NT$0.042 to close at NT$30.968 against the greenback as exporters sold NT dollars, which hit its lowest level in 19 months. Turnover totaled US$899 million during the trading session. It was the seventh straight day of losses for the local currency as it matched the declines of other Asian currencies such as the won and the Hong Kong dollar. The won fell 0.15 percent, while the Hong Kong dollar fell 0.1 percent.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to