COMPUTERS
Asustek sales climb 5.07%
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) yesterday posted sales of NT$30.64 billion (US$980.48 million) for last month, an increase of 5.07 percent year-on-year, as business slowly regained momentum due to peak season demand. The company said it plans to reinforce its product innovation and business management as it expects further growth in the upcoming months. In the first eight months of the year, cumulative sales dropped 4.82 percent year-on-year to NT$216.27 billion.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Vanguard revenue slumps
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進), which supplies driver ICs for flat panels and power management chips, yesterday posted revenue of NT$7.29 billion for last month, a decrease of 8.03 percent month-on-month. Vanguard chief financial officer Amanda Huang (黃惠蘭) attributed the decline to lower wafer shipments. On an annual basis, revenue fell 12.28 percent. Separately, contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) posted a 4 percent month-on-month decline in revenue to NT$13.18 billion. That was flat from a year earlier.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
CTBC profit soars 107%
CTBC Financial Holding Co’s (中信金控) net profit rose 107 percent year-on-year last month, thanks to higher investment returns on stocks and bonds, while its banking arm also expanded, spokeswoman Chiu Ya-ling (邱雅玲) said yesterday. E.Sun Financial Holding Co’s (玉山金控) net profit increased 58 percent year-on-year due to growing financial technology and cross border payment services, while SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) said its net profit grew 25 percent last month due stable banking business.
AVIATION
AIDC denies supplying door
Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空) yesterday said that it did not manufacture the door blown out in Boeing Co’s high-pressure stress test for its new wide-body 777X aircraft on Thursday last week. AIDC only provides pressurized doors for Boeing 737 and 747 jets, and so far has not discussed supplying components for the 777X, general manager Ma Wan-june (馬萬鈞) said by telephone. “While the failure of the door has caught the attention of the media, we think it is normal for there to be failures in tests,” Ma said.
SHOEMAKERS
Demand boosts Fulgent Sun
Fulgent Sun International Holding Co (鈺齊國際) yesterday posted revenue of NT$1.16 million for last month, an increase of 36.11 percent year-on-year, but a 16.13 percent fall month-on-month. Cumulative revenue in the first eight months grew 25.51 percent year-on-year to a record NT$8.48 billion on the back of strong demand in the US, as well as European and Asian markets, the company said.
APPAREL
Orders boost Quang Viet
Down jacket and garment maker Quang Viet Enterprise Co (廣越企業) posted sales of NT$2.26 billion last month, an increase of 7.9 percent month-on-month and 2.41 percent year-on-year, while cumulative revenue in the first eight months soared 33.64 percent to NT$10.71 billion. “Major clients such as Patagonia, Adidas AG, Nike Inc and The North Face Inc have placed more orders this year,” a company official said by telephone yesterday. The firm’s top five clients have decided to hasten the pace of their expansion in the next two years, which would help boost sales, the official said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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