CIRCUIT BOARDS
Flexium building 5G plant
Flexium Interconnect Inc (台郡), a major supplier of flexible printed circuit boards (FPCBs) for Apple Inc’s products, yesterday broke ground for a factory at Kaohsiung’s Hofa Industrial Park (和發產業園區) to start a 5G communications business. Flexium would invest NT$10 billion (US$324.34 million) in the project, adding FPCB materials, equipment and millimeter-wave technology and creating up to 2,500 jobs, chairman Walter Cheng (鄭明智) said. After the first phase of construction, which should take a year, trial production would begin, the company said, adding that the completed project would double its production capacity.
OPTICS
Young sees monthly net loss
Optical module supplier Young Optics Inc (揚明光學) yesterday reported a net loss of NT$31 million for last month, with net losses per share of NT$0.27, while revenue rose 10.55 percent year-on-year to NT$331 million. The company’s revenue in the first two months of the year grew 7.41 percent year-on-year to NT$735.5 million, compared with NT$1.36 billion in the fourth quarter of last year. The Taiwan Stock Exchange requested recent figures from the company after its stock price experienced volatility in recent sessions. Shares of Young Optics closed down 0.45 percent yesterday at NT$111.5 in Taipei trading.
SEMICONDUCTORS
ESMT proposes dividend
Local chip designer Elite Semiconductor Memory Technology Inc (ESMT, 晶豪科技) yesterday said its board is proposing a cash dividend of NT$1.5 per share, a payout ratio of 59.5 percent, after the company reported earnings per share of NT$2.52 last year. The proposal suggested a dividend yield of 4.57 percent based on the company’s closing price of NT$32.8, the company said. Net profit decreased 18.3 percent year-on-year to NT$706 million last year on revenue of NT$11.56 billion, while gross margin dropped 1.25 percentage points to 18.42 percent, company data showed.
AVIATION
AIDC chairman replaced
Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空工業), the nation’s largest civilian and military aircraft manufacturer, yesterday announced its appointment of Hu Kai-hung (胡開宏) to replace chairman Anson Liao (廖榮鑫) with immediate effect. Hu has been managing director of the company’s board of directors, as well as a deputy commander and lieutenant general in the Republic of China Air Force. The company named Ma Wan-june (馬萬鈞), vice president of the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, to replace president Lin Nan-juh (林南助), also to take effect immediately.
ELECTRONICS
HTC to offer unlimited VR
HTC Corp (宏達電) is to provide unlimited access to virtual reality (VR) content starting next month in an effort to boost VR revenue, the company announced on Friday last week. From April 2, subscribers could take advantage of the Viveport Infinity program and enjoy unlimited access to VR content subscription services, HTC said in a news release. Program subscribers would pay US$12.99 per month, or US$99 per year, to get unlimited Viveport services, it said. Viveport is a Vive app store that provides users with a wider range of content for the VR headset.
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