LENS MAKERS
Genius reports income fall
Genius Electronic Optical Co (玉晶光), a camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday reported net income of NT$108 million (US$3.5 million) for October, down 23 percent year-on-year, with earnings per share (EPS) of NT$1.08. Analysts said that firms in the iPhone supply chain face weak demand this quarter, mainly due to Chinese smartphone inventory adjustments and declining iPhone XR orders. In the first 10 months of the year, Genius Electronic Optical’s net income was NT$754 million, up 23.94 percent from the same period last year, or EPS of NT$7.56.
AUTO SALES
Hotai to build service center
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which distributes Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Taiwan, yesterday announced plans to build a service center on company-owned land in Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅). Construction of the predelivery service center is estimated to cost NT$519.76 million, Hotai said. The project is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2020, it said. Hotai sold 99,032 vehicles in the first 10 months of the year, a market share of 27.7 percent.
ECONOMY
Banknote change dismissed
The central bank on Thursday said it has no plan to issue new versions of New Taiwan dollar banknotes, because it is one of the world’s least-counterfeited currencies. The central bank’s remark came after rumors on the Line messenger app said the government is to redesign NT dollar bills at a cost of NT$50 billion. Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka on Thursday said the rumor was complete misinformation. She said that NT dollar bills have an excellent counterfeit-proof design and the government has not allocated any funds for changes.
ELECTRONICS
King Yuan buys machinery
King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電子), an IC circuit testing service provider, yesterday said that it had purchased 77 machinery items from Teradyne (Asia) Ptd Ltd for NT$1.21 billion to meet rising demand for IC testing. King Yuan posted a 2.17 percent annual increase in revenue for the first 10 months of this year to NT$16.95 billion as it benefited from increased demand for chips used in smartphones, Internet of Things applications and vehicles.
BANKING
OBU assets decline
The 60 offshore banking units (OBUs) of financial institutions operating in Taiwan had assets totaling US$203.044 billion as of the end of October, down US$928 million, or 0.5 percent, from September, the central bank said in a statement yesterday. The OBUs of 37 local banks held US$181.944 billion in assets, while foreign banks’ 23 OBUs held US$21.10 billion, it said. At the end of October, the primary uses of OBU funds were discounts and loans, amounting to US$83.562 billion, or 41.2 percent of total assets, it said.
MANUFACTURING
TIER reports slow growth
The manufacturing sector in October saw sluggish growth for a fifth consecutive month amid escalating trade tensions between the US and China, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said on Thursday. The composite index for the manufacturing sector rose just 0.54 points from a month earlier to 11.43, which TIER economist Fang Chun-teh (方俊德) attributed to high international crude oil prices and the launch of new devices by major brands.
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