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.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
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