PANEL MAKERS
TPK to lay off workers
Local touch-panel maker TPK Holdings (宸鴻) has confirmed that it plans to streamline its workforce in Taiwan and China to better cope with a reduction in orders. TPK spokesman Freddie Liu (劉詩亮) said the job cuts would be implemented by the end of the year. Liu declined to reveal how many workers would be laid off. Liu’s comments came after the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported that TPK was involved in a labor dispute after it shut down a plant in China’s Xiamen, Fujian Province, without paying the workers severance fees. Liu dismissed any wrongdoing, saying the firm followed Chinese labor laws.
FINANCE
Hontai, Farglory censured
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday banned Hontai Life Insurance Co (宏泰人壽) and Farglory Life Insurance Co (遠雄人壽) from new real-estate investments after the two life insurers failed to meet the minimum capital adequacy requirements. All insurers are required to maintain a 200 percent capital adequacy ratio and the regulator ordered the two companies to increase their capital by the end of this year so that they would pass the requirement. Prior to that, the two insurers must not make new property investments, although they are allowed to invest in existing projects, the commission said. A day earlier, the regulator gave its go-ahead to plans by Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行) to set up a branch in Singapore.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), yesterday said it has trimmed its revenue growth target for this year as US tariffs are likely to depress customer demand and weigh on the whole supply chain. Gudeng’s remarks came after the US on Monday notified 14 countries, including Japan and South Korea, of new tariff rates that are set to take effect on Aug. 1. Taiwan is still negotiating for a rate lower than the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs announced by the US in April, which it later postponed to today. The
MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR: Revenue from AI servers made up more than 50 percent of Wistron’s total server revenue in the second quarter, the company said Wistron Corp (緯創) on Tuesday reported a 135.6 percent year-on-year surge in revenue for last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, with the momentum expected to extend into the third quarter. Revenue last month reached NT$209.18 billion (US$7.2 billion), a record high for June, bringing second-quarter revenue to NT$551.29 billion, a 129.47 percent annual increase, the company said. Revenue in the first half of the year totaled NT$897.77 billion, up 87.36 percent from a year earlier and also a record high for the period, it said. The company remains cautiously optimistic about AI server shipments in the third quarter,
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
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