TECHNOLOGY
Advantech to acquire stake
Advantech Co (研華), the world’s biggest industrial computer manufacturer, yesterday said that its board of directors has approved a resolution to acquire 24.58 million shares of broadband systems integrator Hwacom Systems Inc (華電聯網) for NT$332.81 million (US$10.7 million). The strategic investment represents a 19.99 percent stake in Hwacom as the company eyes rising Internet of Things demand, Advantech said in a regulatory filing. Advantech purchased Hwacom shares at NT$13.7 per share and the net worth per share of Hwacom was NT$14.47 as of yesterday, the filing showed. The firms have long worked together and in 2015 partnered with Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) on a 4G smart vehicle project.
RETAIL
Momo.com income hits high
TV and online retailer Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體) yesterday said that revenue last quarter rose 22.7 percent to a record high NT$11.82 billion. Net profit reached NT$312 million, or earnings per share of NT$2.22. The company in a statement attributed the revenue growth to Mother’s Day and Children’s Day sales. Product promotions through “brand days” also played an imported part in boosting sales, the company said. To provide more delivery options to customers, Momo.com last month partnered with Taiwan Mobile Co (臺灣大哥大) to offer deliveries through nearly 800 Myfone stores nationwide.
INVESTMENT
Foreign investment rises
In the first six months of this year, the government approved US$3.51 billion of foreign investment into Taiwan, up 16.99 percent from a year earlier, thanks to Hitachi Ltd’s US$760.37 million investment in Yungtay Engineering Co (永大電機) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s US$512.06 million capital injection into its Taipei branch, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Monday. In the first half of the year, the government approved US$47.47 million of investment by China-based investors, down 65.48 percent year-on-year, the ministry said in a statement, citing a high comparison base.
CHIPMAKERS
UMC withdraws unit’s IPO
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) on Sunday night said that it had withdrawn an initial public offering (IPO) application for Chinese subsidiary Hejian Technology (Suzhou) Co (和艦) on the STAR start-up board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. UMC, the world’s No. 3 contract chipmaker, scrapped the plan due to differences between Chinese regulators and its underwriter, Changjiang Securities Co (長江證券), over Hejian’s ownership of a Chinese subsidiary, United Semiconductor (Xiamen) Co (聯芯), the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Hejian holds an about 15 percent stake in United Semiconductor (Xiamen), which operates a 12-inch fab in Xiamen in China’s Fujian Province.
ELECTRONICS
Lite-On revenue slides 2%
Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) earlier this month said that revenue last month fell 2 percent annually to NT$16.15 billion due mainly to weakening market demand. The company said that its optoelectronics segment contributed 15 percent of total sales, of which vehicle LED lighting posted consecutive yearly growth. The information technology segment accounted for 66 percent of sales, while the storage segment accounted for 14 percent. Lite-On expects sales to improve in the second half of the year and to return to annual growth.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six