CAMERA LENSES
Genius revenue soars
Genius Electronic Optical Co (玉晶光), which supplies camera lenses for Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday reported stronger-than-expected revenue for last month. Consolidated revenue rose 4.96 percent month-on-month and 145 percent year-on-year to NT$1.93 billion (US$62.58 million), Genius said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Last month’s figure was the highest monthly revenue in the company’s history and pushed its overall revenue for the first nine months up 42.69 percent year-on-year to NT$8.26 billion, company data showed. With sales of new iPhone models exceeding market expectations, Genius might benefit from a potential boom for Apple suppliers this quarter, analysts said.
CHIPMAKERS
TSMC starts 7nm production
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun mass production of chips made with its advanced 7-nanometer-plus technology. The trial production of chips made on the more advanced 6-nanometer process is scheduled for the first quarter of next year, TSMC said in a statement on Monday. In the wake of the news, TSMC shares yesterday gained 3.06 percent to close at the day’s high of NT$286.5 in Taipei trading, pushing up the firm’s market capitalization to a new high of NT$7.43 trillion. TSMC shares served as a driver to boost the broader market as the TAIEX closed up 0.75 percent at 11,017.31 points.
ELECTRONICS
Aten back on track
Aten International Co Ltd (宏正自動科技) yesterday posted revenue of NT$424.02 million for last month, a 7.83 percent increase year-on-year. Cumulative revenue from January to last month declined by 1.55 percent year-on-year to NT$3.69 billion after the company faced headwinds earlier this year due to the US-China trade dispute. Aten said sales in its IT infrastructure solutions segment increased by 12 percent year-on-year last month and sales in its audio-visual business increased by 10 percent, while those of USBs and related products declined by 1 percent.
AUTO PARTS
Tong Yang sales decline
Tong Yang Industry Co (東陽實業), which manufactures bumpers and automotive sheet metal products, yesterday posted sales of NT$1.67 billion for last month, a 10.1 percent decrease year-on-year. Cumulative sales in the first nine months fell 9.61 percent year-on-year to NT$15.77 billion, as sales generated by the aftermarket business grew 5 percent, but sales at the original equipment manufacturing (OEM) business fell by 35.16 percent, Tong Yang said in a statement. Sales at the OEM business would continue to decline this quarter, but the pace has slowed, a company official said by telephone.
FITNESS EQUIPMENT
Johnson Health bullish
Fitness equipment maker Johnson Health Technology Co Ltd (喬山健康科技) yesterday posted revenue of NT$2.13 billion for last month, a 7.65 percent increase year-on-year, lifting cumulative revenue in the first nine months by 18.62 percent year-on-year to NT$17.09 billion, a record high. The company said it expects revenue to reach its peak this quarter thanks to seasonal demand. To cope with rising demand, the company is expanding its operations in Taiwan and Vietnam. A new Vietnamese plant is expected to start mass production at the end of this year, while construction of a smart warehouse in Taiwan is to be completed in the second quarter of next year, the company said.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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