TPK Holding Co’s (宸鴻) net profit last quarter more than doubled to NT$54 million (US$1.71 million) as better-than-expected seasonal demand from the tablets segment helped offset a slump in smartphones, corportate officials said.
It reported net profit of NT$24 million in the first quarter.
Earnings per share rose to NT$0.13 last quarter from NT$0.06 a quarter earlier.
However, the touch module and sensor supplier reported an operating loss of NT$14 million, falling short of its expectation of breaking even, and reversing the operating income of NT$119 million it reported in the first quarter.
It expects a pickup in seasonal demand to bring its operating profit margin back to 1 percent to 2 percent this quarter, from zero percent last quarter.
“The third quarter is typically a peak season. There is no exception this year. Shipments will increase as usual,” TPK chief strategic officer Freddie Liu (劉詩亮) told investors in a teleconference call.
“However, business visibility for the second half of this year is lower [than usual] as global political and economic uncertainty is weighing on sales of smartphones and other electronics following the launches,” he said.
Based on orders on hand, TPK is confident of achieving a 20 percent growth in revenue this quarter, from NT$28.45 billion last quarter, Liu said.
It is expected to benefit from seasonal demand as the major smartphone makers are to launch new products this quarter, he said.
Touch products used in smartphones contributed 38 percent of TPK’s revenue last quarter, down from 46 percent in the previous quarter, the company said.
TPK expects very minimal impact from US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose an extra 10 percent tariff on US$300 billion of Chinese goods, chief executive Leo Hsieh (謝立群) said, as a very small portion of its products are shipped directly to the US.
TPK saw a good start for this quarter as last month’s revenue jumped 24.68 percent monthly and 3.6 percent annually to NT$12.53 billion, the highest in six months.
The company plans to spend NT$4 billion this year on buying new equipment, paving the way for the production of next-generation silver-nanowire (SNW) touch technology early next year.
TPK is pinning its hopes on the new touch technology to drive revenue and net profit growth, given that the SNW technology can make flexible touch products used in foldable smartphones at lower costs than rival technologies.
There would be a long way to go before foldable smartphones become mainstream, as most phone vendors are staying on the sidelines for now, Hsieh said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
RSS