SEMICONDUCTORS
Faraday results disappoint
Integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原科技) yesterday reported that fourth-quarter sales and earnings were below market expectations, reflecting the effects of clients’ inventory adjustments. Faraday’s fourth-quarter net income fell 66.4 percent from the previous quarter to NT$49 million (US$1.63 million), or earnings per share of NT$0.2, while sales fell by 11.9 percent to NT$1.4 billion, a company financial statement showed. Aided by higher revenue from its high-margin silicon intellectual property rights and non-recurring engineering segments, Faraday’s overall revenue for last year increased 8.2 percent annually to NT$5.31 billion, while net income rose 32.1 percent to NT$3.48 billion, or earnings per share of NT$1.4, it said.
TECHNOLOGY
US firm eyes high Q1 sales
Applied Materials Inc on Wednesday released a bullish sales forecast for this quarter, suggesting that its customers are once again spending on their fabs. The company’s fiscal second-quarter sales would be US$4.34 billion, plus or minus US$200 million, and adjusted earnings would be between US$0.98 and US$1.10 a share for the period ending in April, the company said in a statement. The US company is the largest maker of machinery used by manufacturers of semiconductors, with Samsung Electronics Co, Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) among its customers.
TRANSPORTATION
GrabWheels takes EV partner
GrabWheels, the new mobility arm of ride-hailing firm Grab, yesterday said that it has secured US$30 million in fresh funding from Taiwanese venture capital fund KYMCO Capital (金庫資本), as part of a strategic partnership to invest in and develop two-wheeler electric-vehicle (EV) solutions to accelerate the adoption of EVs in Southeast Asia. The fund is under Taiwanese scooter maker Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業), which sells its scooters under the KYMCO brand. The partnership would enable the firms to jointly explore developing and deploying two-wheel EVs, specifically KYMCO’s Ionex electric bikes, as well as the Ionex EV charging platform in Southeast Asian cities, a press release said. The US$30 million capital injection is part of GrabWheels’ ongoing Series A round.
AIRLINES
CAL delays Cebu flights
China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) yesterday announced that it is postponing the launch of its Taoyuan-Cebu flights from March 29 to June 12 due to Manila’s announcement on Monday that it is temporarily banning Taiwanese visitors from the Philippines in a bid to contain COVID-19. CAL’s announcement came after Starlux Airlines Co’s (星宇航空) decision on Wednesday to delay the launch of its Taoyuan-Cebu route until July 1.
RETAIL
Breeze Group to cut jobs
Upscale mall operator Breeze Group (微風集團) on Wednesday confirmed that it plans to reduce its workforce, but declined to say whether media reports of a 30 percent cut are accurate. The planned reduction is a routine internal adjustment, Breeze said, adding that it would continue to hire professionals to help the firm expand. Breeze opened its 10th Taipei mall in January 2018 — the Breeze Nan Shan (微風南山) in the city’s Xinyi District (信義) — and plans to open another one in Nangang District (南港), it said. Taipei Department of Labor official Liu Chia-hung (劉家鴻) said his agency had not yet received a notice from Breeze about layoffs or any complaints from the group’s employees.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure