ELECTRONICS
Lite-On approves dividend
Component supplier Lite-On Technology Corp’s (光寶科技) shareholders on Friday approved a NT$2.92 (US$0.094) per share cash dividend, for an 85.38 percent payout ratio on earnings per share of NT$85.38 for last year. Lite-On said it has streamlined and will focus on consistent profitability, steadier operations and higher returns on equity. The company reported a revenue drop of 19.98 percent to NT$14.8 billion for last month. Cumulative revenue in the first five months declined by 16.82 percent to NT$69.52 billion.
SEMICONDUCTORS
N America still volatile
North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted US$2.06 billion in worldwide billings last month, according to last month’s Equipment Market Data Subscription report published by international trade group SEMI on Thursday. The billings figure was 7.4 percent higher than the April level of US$1.92 billion, but was 23.6 percent less than the US$2.69 billion reported a year earlier. SEMI president and CEO Ajit Manocha said in a statement that market volatility continues due to the macroeconomic environment.
LABOR
Taiwan Coop wages up
State-run Taiwan Cooperative Bank (TCB, 合庫銀行) has raised wages by 4.53 percent on average since April. Lei Chung-dar (雷仲達), chairman of parent Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co (合庫金控), said wage hikes for entry-level employees were even higher, averaging 6.67 percent. The bank has a workforce of more than 8,000 and posted a record-high net profit of NT$14.77 billion for last year, up from NT$12.91 billion a year earlier. Shareholders on Friday approved a cash dividend of NT$1.05 per share based on earnings per share of NT$1.24 for last year.
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
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
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