Casio Taiwan Co has set a revenue growth target of more than 20 percent for its consumer electronics division this year, driven mainly by digital cameras and electronic watches, company executives said yesterday.
"Consumer electronics will be our future focus in Taiwan and other Asian countries, with digital cameras and electronic watches fueling growth," Toshiharu Okimuro, president of Casio Taiwan, told a media gathering.
Domestic consumer product sales are expected to rise 23 percent this year to around NT$1.6 billion (US$49.8 million), the company said. The segment posted annual growth of 28 percent last year.
The company expects digital cameras to make up the bulk of revenues this year, at around 60 percent, while timepieces contribute roughly 20 percent, said Jason Wu (吳政哲), the company's vice president for sales.
Calculators and electronic musical instruments will account for the remaining 15 percent and 5 percent, he added.
"As the digital market in Hong Kong and Taiwan is already mature, growth will likely be driven by replacement demand," said Yozo Suzuki, managing director of Casio Computer Co's global marketing headquarters. "However, we expect sales in China to expand 20 percent next year."
Suzuki was in Taipei yesterday to join a public event to celebrate the integration of Casio Taiwan's local marketing and watch component subsidiaries, which took effect on April 1.
Improving technologies, such as battery life, panel brightness and wideness, as well as anti-shock feature, could stimulate replacement demand, Suzuki said, adding that consumers in general replace their digital cameras three years after purchase.
Casio, renowned for its credit-card sized cameras, is targeting a 30 percent increase in global shipments this year to 600 million units, according to a Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) report last month.
To lower production costs, 90 percent of Casio's digital cameras are assembled by contract makers, with Taiwan's Ability Enterprise Co (
Camera designs, however, are still done by the company to ensure quality, Suzuki said, adding that the firm has no plans to launch low-end models to grab market share.
He also said that Casio's global revenues this year are expected to reach US$5.5 billion, fueled by consumer electronics and thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal-display component sales.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
RSS