MediaTek Inc (聯發科) shares rallied 1.29 percent yesterday after the nation’s biggest handset chip designer unveiled a super-low-cost handset chip in a bid to secure its market share.
MediaTek commands about 70 percent of China’s handset chip market and it hopes to safeguard this position, the company said.
MediaTek also hinted that it would not rule out cutting prices to fend off competition from competitors such as MStar Semiconductor Inc (Cayman) (開曼晨星半導體) and Shanghai-based Spreadtrum Communications Co (展訊通信).
The MT6252D chip — a new version of the popular MT6252 chip used in 2G mobile phones — boasts the world’s first memory-less single chip for mobile phones, which can help chip designers save on costs and time to market, the Hsinchu-based company said in a statement posted on its Web site on Monday.
“The MT6252D will help customers provide excellent audio and visual performance at a very low cost. The chip will also allow customers to differentiate their products,” MediaTek said in the statement.
Company president Hsieh Ching-jiang (謝清江) told investors on April 29 that shipments of the MT6252, which hit the market in March, would account for more than 30 percent of the company’s overall shipments next quarter.
MediaTek said that revenues this quarter were expected to expand by between 5 and 12 percent to NT$20.9 billion and NT$22.3 billion, from last quarter’s NT$19.87 billion, in which handset chips contributed more than 70 percent of the total.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.