Electronic components supplier Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday reported that net profit grew 18 percent year-on-year to NT$3.11 billion (US$102.29 million) last quarter, translating into earnings per share of NT$1.34 — the most in three years.
Gross margin and operating margin increased to 16.2 percent and 6.7 percent from 15.8 percent and 6.2 percent respectively, due to operational efficiency, better supply-chain management and an improved product mix, the company said.
However, third-quarter revenue dropped 10 percent year-on-year to NT$48.16 billion, as Lite-On’s three main business segments experienced declines.
Revenue from the company’s storage segment, which contributed 13 percent of total revenue last quarter, declined 35.43 percent annually to NT$6.25 billion, company data showed.
Lite-On vice chairman and chief operating officer Warren Chen (陳廣中) blamed the disappointing results on the company’s solid-state drive (SSD) business.
Its sale to Toshiba Memory Holdings Corp for US$165 million was approved more than two months ago. The deal is expected to be completed by April next year.
“Supply was much higher than demand [for SSDs] in the first two quarters this year,” Chen said, adding that falling prices of NAND flash memory chips over the past 18 months have further dampened sales.
The SSD business recovered slightly last quarter due to the rising popularity of gaming devices, but is expected to dip again this quarter as market demand has peaked for the year, he said.
The company’s optical disk drive business is expected to report flat performance this quarter, although Chen said he was hopeful that this segment would improve next year on the back of increasing demand for data centers.
The information technology (IT) segment, which contributed 67 percent to Lite-On’s revenue, reported a slight annual drop in sales to NT$32.13 billion last quarter.
However, growth in demand in various areas such as cloud-based computing, artificial-intelligence appliances and gaming devices would benefit the segment this quarter, Chen said.
In May, the company began mass production of networking devices, as well as other IT products, at its Kaohsiung plant and has another plot in the city standing by “just in case” the trade conflict between the US and China exacerbates, he said.
“Although the trade conflict has only affected our revenue by a single-digit percentage this year, we are still closely monitoring any changes or resolutions that might come about within the next two months,” Chen said.
Sales growth in the company’s automotive electronics business stalled last quarter.
“Our clients have been launching new models at a slower pace, as demand in the automotive market is flagging,” Chen said.
The firm’s optoelectronics segment — which is composed of automotive electronics, LED components and lighting products, as well as camera modules — reported that revenue decreased 7.6 percent annually to NT$7.37 billion last quarter, contributing 15 percent to total revenue.
Meanwhile, Lite-On is expanding its Vietnamese plant as it looks to relocate production of labor-intensive products from China, Chen said, adding that mass production is expected to start by the end of next year.
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
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
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