SMARTPHONES
HTC sales fall 16 percent
Smartphone maker HTC Corp’s (宏達電) consolidated sales for last month fell 16 percent from a month earlier to NT$550 million (US$18.03 million), the second consecutive monthly decline, the company reported on Friday. Analysts attributed the decline to escalating competition in the global smartphone market. However, the monthly drop was not as steep as in October, when the company’s sales fell 48 percent to NT$660 million. Still, last month’s figure was 62 percent lower than a year earlier.
MACHINERY
Hiwin revenue drops 9.1%
Machinery maker Hiwin Technologies Co’s (上銀科技) revenue was NT$1.28 billlion (US$41.97 million) for last month, down 9.1 percent month-on-month and 44.4 percent year-on-year, the company reported on Friday. Cumulative revenue for the first 11 months decreased 31.6 percent to NT$18.88 billion from a year earlier, said the company, which makes ballscrews and linear guideways. The machinery sector faces a downcycle this year and Hiwin is no exception, but Hiwin could see order and earnings growth turn positive from next year amid an industry upcycle, analysts said.
ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai plans panels in US
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海精密) investment project in Wisconsin is to manufacture flat screens when it is completed in May next year, Hon Hai founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) said on Friday. The company has invested about US$350 million in the Area 1 development within the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park, Gou said. The plant is expected to start mass production in the fourth quarter of next year, said Louis Woo (胡國輝), a top aide to Gou.
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],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
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