MACROECONOMICS
Livelihood value rises
The production value of Taiwan’s livelihood sector — including food, textile and non-metal mineral industries — increased 1.14 percent year-on-year to NT$817.5 billion (US$26.64 billion) in the first seven months of this year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. The sector would continue to grow this year as domestic demand stabilizes while overseas sales of contact lenses and gym equipment increase, it said. The sector’s total output last year rose 3.51 percent annually to NT$1.42 trillion, its highest since 1997, which the ministry attributed to higher output from food and feed producers, non-metallic mineral suppliers, and contact lens and gym equipment makers.
TECHNOLOGY
Appier to buy start-up
Artificial intelligence (AI) developer Appier Inc is to acquire Japanese start-up Emotion Intelligence Inc to provide an AI business solution to e-commerce operators, the company said yesterday. The solution, named AiDeal, would encourage hesitant customers to make purchases on shopping platforms through various offers and deals, while providing operators with insight into consumer behavior, Appier said in a statement.
APPAREL
Makalot revenue inches up
Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$3.16 billion for last month, up 0.59 percent from a year earlier and bringing cumulative revenue in the first nine months to NT$20.6 billion, up 15.53 percent year-on-year. Pretax profit rose 34.28 percent to NT$1.95 billion from January to last month, or NT$8.88 per share, the company said in a regulatory filing.
RETAIL
Test Rite sales down 6.36%
Test Rite International Co Ltd (特力), a retailer of furniture, kitchenware and home furnishings, on Monday reported that sales last month declined 6.36 percent annually to NT$3.15 billion. Sales from its retail business in Taiwan fell 6.95 percent annually to NT$1.24 billion, while sales in its trading business rose 3.26 percent to NT$1.68 billion, it said. The company expects sales this quarter to continue to grow on robust US market demand and a high season for furniture.
BICYCLE MAKERS
Giant sales rise 4.97%
Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大) on Monday reported that sales last month increased 4.97 percent annually to NT$6.01 billion, the highest monthly sales figure this year, due mostly to the introduction of new traditional and electric models. The company sold 290,000 electric bikes in the first half of the year, and aims to sell more than 310,000 units in the second half, it said. In the first nine months, cumulative sales rose 5.13 percent year-on-year to NT$47.66 billion, with electric bicycles contributing about 20 percent of the total, company data showed.
SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC stock hits new high
Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday hit a new high after a US-based brokerage raised its target price on the stock to NT$364. The stock rose 1.21 percent to close at NT$293.5 after reaching a high of NT$296 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. After the gains, TSMC’s market capitalization rose to NT$7.61 trillion, compared with NT$7.52 trillion a day earlier. TSMC’s efforts in high-end processes would pay off over the next few years, the brokerage said, expecting sales to increase 17 percent next year and 11 percent in 2021.
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to