Sales generated by companies listed on Taiwan’s main board and the over-the-counter (OTC) market for the first quarter fell 3.4 percent from a year earlier to NT$6.07 trillion (US$202 billion), government statistics showed on Saturday.
According to the statistics compiled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, sales posted by computer and optoelectronics firms listed on the main board and OTC market during the three-month period totaled NT$2.17 trillion, the highest level among all of the sectors in the bourse.
However, the sales figure was 10.7 percent less than a year earlier as consumers postponed their purchasing plans before the launch of new products, the statistics indicated.
The electronics component sector came in second in terms of revenue after posting NT$1.1 trillion in sales in the first quarter, a 5.4 percent increase from a year earlier.
At the end of March, a total of 811 firms were listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, while 638 firms were listed on the OTC market.
In the three-month period, the listed companies on both markets posted NT$258.8 billion in net profit, up 74.7 percent from a year earlier as semiconductor firms became more profitable and the flat panel business turned a profit, the statistics showed.
The electronics component sector was the most profitable in the first quarter after its posted NT$64.8 billion in net profit ahead of the computer and optoelectronics sector, which recoded NT$45.4 billion in net profit.
The listed companies spent NT$338.9 billion in fixed capital investments in the first three months, up 2.4 percent year-on-year, with the electronics component sector pouring the biggest chunk of investments, worth NT$154.7 billion, among all of the sectors.
Their expenditure in research and development for the first quarter totaled NT$118 billion, up 5.2 percent from a year earlier, while the electronics component sector spent NT$53.6 billion in R&D, the largest chunk among all of the sectors.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
NEXT GENERATION: The new 3-nanometer chip has 28 percent more transistors and offers up to 80 percent faster language model performance than its predecessor MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Wednesday launched a new flagship smartphone chip, Dimensity 9400, made with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) enhanced 3-nanometer technology, aiming to bring more artificial intelligence (AI) applications to edge devices like phones. The Dimensity 9400 is the second smartphone chip using TSMC’s second-generation 3-nanometer technology, after Apple Inc’s A18 Pro chip for the new iPhone 16 series. The new mobile chip has 28 percent more transistors, offers up to 80 percent faster large language model performance and is up to 35 percent more power-efficient than its predecessor, Dimensity 9300, MediaTek said. Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi Corp (小米),
RSS