Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major supplier of Apple Inc’s iPhone and iPad, saw its ranking drop one notch to No. 5 on the top 1,000 listed firms in the Greater China area, a survey released by the Chinese-language CommonWealth Magazine (天下雜誌) yesterday showed.
Last year, Hon Hai’s revenue grew 13.1 percent to NT$3.9 trillion (US$130.04 billion), making it the only technology firm in the top 10, most of which are natural resources companies and banks, the survey showed.
To seek new revenue growth, Hon Hai has expanded into the communications and automotive sectors, the magazine said.
China Petrochemical Corp (中國石油化工集團), China National Petroleum (中國石油天然氣) and Glencore Xstrata PLC are the three biggest companies listed on the Taiwan, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets, according to the survey.
Among the top 1,000 companies by revenue, only 185 firms are listed on Taiwan’s stock market, down from 204 companies last year, while 530 companies are listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets, up from last year’s 507, the survey showed.
The aggregate revenue of the top 1,000 companies expanded by 15.89 percent to NT$190.4 trillion (US$6.34 trillion) last year, from NT$164.3 trillion (US$5.48 trillion) in 2011, data showed.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (台積電) was the most profitable company listed on Taiwan’s stock market with a net income of NT$166.16 billion (US$5.54 billion) last year, the survey showed. In terms of profitability, TSMC seized the 16th spot among the top 1,000 firms, and ranked No. 56 by revenue.
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) and Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) ranked No. 2 and No. 3 with net profits of NT$39.9 billion (US$1.33 billion) and NT$28.98 billion (US$966.31 million) respectively, according to the magazine’s tallies.
Separately, Hon Hai yesterday denied a report saying the company is scheduled to introduce new products running on Mozilla’s Firefox operating system next week.
On Monday, the Central News Agency said in a report that Mozilla would announce the partnership with Hon Hai on Monday next week, and the two companies would introduce a new Firefox OS device, citing an invitation sent to media outlets.
One industry insider said the new Firefox OS product to be unveiled that day is likely to be a tablet. Mozilla had announced at the Mobile World Congress in February its partners for the Firefox OS project, which include telecom operators and manufacturers such as Deutsche Telekom, Sprint, SingTel, LG and Huawei (華為). The software maker also began selling two preview versions of mobile phones running the Firefox OS, which are manufactured by Spanish company GeeksPhone last month.
Hon Hai’s denial comes as the company is looking for new revenue sources other than Apple, since the US company has seen its iPhones and iPads lose market share.
The Wall Street Journal also said in a report on Monday that Hon Hai was revamping its retail operations, which generate higher margins than contract manufacturing, while planning to invest in media content and software.
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