TECHNOLOGY
Ennoconn unit buys Amanox
Ennoconn Corp (樺漢科技), an industrial computer manufacturing arm of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), on Wednesday said that it has increased its stake in Amanox Solutions AG through S&T AG, a German information technology solutions provider that is 26.6 percent owned by Ennoconn. S&T spent 11.8 million Swiss francs (US$11.5 million) to purchase 51,240 Amanox Solutions shares at SF230.29 each, Ennoconn said in a regulatory filing, allowing it to increase its stake from 51 percent to 100 percent, making the Bern, Switzerland-based leading information technology services provider a wholly owned unit.
HEALTHCARE
TCI profit skyrockets 179%
TCI Co (大江生醫), a contract manufacturer of dietary supplements, health drinks and facial masks, yesterday reported that net profit in the first quarter of this year grew 179 percent year-on-year to NT$623.01 million (US$20.16 million), the highest level for that period. Earnings per share were NT$6.07, the company said in a regulatory filing. First-quarter sales increased 102.6 percent annually to NT$2.58 billion, driven mainly by functional drinks and sachets, a separate filing earlier this month showed.
CHIPMAKERS
Opto to cut capital by 15%
Opto Tech Corp (光磊科技), which supplies LED chips, silicon sensor chips and LED displays, yesterday said that its board has approved a plan to cut capitalization by 15 percent to adjust its capital structure and return NT$1.5 in cash per share to shareholders. The plan would see the capitalization drop by NT$668.15 million to NT$3.79 billion, it said in a regulatory filing. Net profit last year fell 2.8 percent year-on-year to NT$653 million, or earnings per share of NT$1.47.
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],”