Machinery maker Hiwin Technologies Co (上銀科技) yesterday said that it expected the third quarter to be “challenging” as markets are clouded by a US-China trade dispute, while torque motors and new products would fuel momentum in the next two years.
“It would be challenging for the company if the US-China trade dispute worsens and results in higher tariffs,” a company public relations official quoted Hiwin Group (上銀集團) chairman Eric Chuo (卓永財) as saying at a shareholders’ meeting in Taichung.
To avoid uncertainties, the company has been developing new products and expanding its customer base, as its products are vital for industries to move toward intelligent manufacturing, Chou was quoted as saying.
“The company has been developing new products, such as smart ball screws and Datorker Robot Reducers, to form a more complete product portfolio,” the official, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Torque motors and a combination of new products, which are essential components for automation, would drive momentum in the coming two years, the company said in a news release.
The company said that it expected sales to grow in the second quarter, compared with the first quarter, as the market is showing signs of a rebound and orders from clients are increasing.
The company said that its unit in Milan, Italy, is expected to begin operating at the end of this year, while its factory in China began its expansion last week.
Hiwin’s subsidiaries include Hiwin Mikrosystem Corp (大銀微系統), Eterbright Solar Corp (上銀光電) and Matrix Precision Co Ltd (邁萃斯精密).
Hiwin Technologies’ new board of directors yesterday elected Chuo Wen-heng (卓文恆) to succeed his father, Eric Chuo, as the company’s new chairman after shareholders approved the nomination of six board directors and three independent directors.
Chuo Wen-heng, who has been working for the Hiwin group for 24 years, would lead the company with assistance from his father and company president Tsai Huey-chin (蔡惠卿), the company said.
Shareholders also approved the company’s distribution of a cash dividend of NT$7 per common share and a stock dividend of NT$0.3 per share, representing a payout ratio of 39.59 percent based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$18.44.
That also translates to a dividend yield of 2.81 percent based on the stock’s closing price of NT$260.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained