Foxsemicon Integrated Technology Inc (京鼎), a semiconductor manufacturing and inspection equipment maker, posted a 19 percent year-on-year decline in net profit for last quarter as semiconductor companies slowed capacity expansion amid a slump caused by excessive inventory.
Net profit plunged to NT$207.82 million (US$6.75 million) in the final quarter of last year, compared with NT$256.89 million in the same period a year earlier, hitting the lowest level in 10 quarters.
Earnings per share dropped to NT$2.54, from NT$3.3 a year earlier, the company said in a financial statement submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Revenue for last quarter tumbled 17.6 percent year-on-year from NT$2.33 billion to NT$1.92 billion.
The decline is likely to continue, as Foxsemicon last month posted an annual reduction of 13.37 percent in revenue to NT$634.05 million for January.
For the whole of last year, Foxsemicon saw its net profit climb 9.43 percent to NT$1.16 billion, from NT$1.07 billion in 2017, benefiting primarily from rapid capacity expansions by Chinese semiconductor companies.
Earnings per share last year rose to NT$14.06, compared with NT$13.63 in 2017.
In December last year, Foxsemicon’s board of directors approved investments totaling US$33 million on two newly established semiconductor equipment makers in Nanjing, China, where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) is building an advanced 12-inch fab.
Foxsemicon, headquartered in Miaoli County, is 15.49 percent owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) through the iPhone assembler’s fully owned investment companies.
Foxsemicon’s board of directors on Wednesday approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$7 per common share, representing a payout ratio of 49.79 percent.
The dividend distribution is subject to shareholders’ approval at an annual meeting scheduled for May 29.
The board also gave the go-ahead to the appointment of Young Liu (劉揚偉) as the successor to Foxsemicon chairman Liu Yin-kuang (劉應光), who has tendered his resignation.
Young Liu is the head of Hon Hai’s semiconductor subgroup and doubles as a board director of Sharp Corp.
The personnel adjustment took effect on Wednesday.
Since the beginning of this year, Foxsemicon shares have jumped 9.27 percent and closed at NT$141.5 on Wednesday, outperforming the TAIEX, which has increased 6.8 percent in the same period.
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],”