STEEL
POSCO profit down 12%
POSCO, the world’s third-largest steelmaker, reported a 12 percent decline in full-year group profit as the economic slowdown eroded demand and prices for the alloy used in cars, ships and construction fell. Net income dipped to 3.7 trillion won (US$3.3 billion) in the year ended Dec. 31 from 4.19 trillion won a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. The company forecast sales this year will probably be in the range of 37.7 trillion won to 41.2 trillion won on a parent basis, compared with 39.17 trillion won last year. Group sales will total 70.6 trillion won to 74.3 trillion won, compared with 68.94 trillion won, it said. POSCO joins China’s Baoshan Iron & Steel Co (寶鋼) and Nippon Steel Corp of Japan in forecasting weaker demand.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Qualcomm lifts sales target
Qualcomm Inc raised its sales and profit expectations for this quarter and the year as the world’s biggest maker of mobile-phone chips benefits from growing demand for smartphones. Sales for the second quarter ending in March may increase to between US$4.6 billion and US$5 billion, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Analysts were expecting US$4.51 billion, the average of estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Qualcomm lifted forecasts for phone shipments based on strength in India and China and said demand for smartphones is boosting chip revenue and licensing income. Qualcomm’s ownership of CDMA technology gives the San Diego-based firm the ability to charge royalties on all 3G phones and networks, providing most of its profit. Qualcomm is also the largest seller of chips that connect phones to mobile networks.
THAILAND
GDP growth forecast cut
Thailand’s central bank lowered its economic growth estimates for last year for the third time after re-assessing the effect of floods that shuttered thousands of factories in the fourth quarter. The economy was estimated to have expanded 1 percent last year and is expected to grow 4.9 percent this year, the Bank of Thailand said in a statement yesterday. Its prior forecast in November was for growth of 1.8 percent last year and 4.8 percent this year. Central bank policymakers cut interest rates last week for the second consecutive meeting to support a recovery from the worst floods in almost seven decades as slowing global growth erodes demand. The benchmark rate at 3 percent is “appropriate” to buttress the economy without stoking inflation, the Bank of Thailand said. “The economy this year will pick up from last year, driven by local consumption and investment after the floods,” Bandid Nijathaworn, a former bank deputy governor, said before the release.
ELECTRONICS
Samsung, Apple fight on
Samsung Electronics Co is vowing to keep fighting Apple over intellectual property after receiving a boost from a German court ruling that favored the South Korean firm. Germany’s Munich Regional Court on Wednesday reportedly rejected Apple’s request to ban sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 N computer and the Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the country. Apple claims Samsung used its patented touchscreen technology. Samsung welcomed the ruling yesterday and said it would continue to defend itself against Apple’s claims. The ruling came after a separate German court earlier this week banned Samsung from selling its older tablet models in the country. The EU has also said it will investigate whether Samsung is breaching fair competition rules.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
A move by US President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports is expected to place Taiwan-made steel, which already has a 25 percent tariff, on an equal footing, the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, association chairman Hwang Chien-chih (黃建智) said such an equal footing is expected to boost Taiwan’s competitive edge against other countries in the US market, describing the tariffs as "positive" for Taiwanese steel exporters. On Monday, Trump signed two executive orders imposing the new metal tariffs on imported steel and aluminum with no exceptions and exemptions, effective
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