Taiwan is still one of Apple Inc’s main supplying regions this year, but manufacturers in China are increasingly showing their teeth and may challenge Taiwanese makers in the US company’s global supply chain going forward, KGI Securities Co (凱基證券) said in a report yesterday.
According to Apple’s latest report of its 200 key suppliers around the world, US companies still top the list this year, with 58 firms, accounting for 29 percent of the total.
The US is followed by Taiwan, which has 47 companies registered in Apple’s supply chain this year, for a 24 percent share, while Japan takes third place with 46 firms and a share of 23 percent, according to tallies compiled by KGI.
However, China in fourth place has seen its number of Apple supply chain firms increase 35 percent to 27 this year from 20 in 2011, which is a bigger increase than the 30.6 percent rise in the number of Taiwanese suppliers over the same period — from 36 in 2011 to 47 this year.
“Market worries about Taiwanese firms’ ability to secure orders being eroded by Chinese firms may not be coming out of nowhere,” considering the fast increase in the number of Chinese suppliers in the last two years, KGI analysts Angela Hsiang (向子慧) and James Lin (林育弘) said in the report.
The report found that Chinese suppliers have started to gain orders and edge out their Taiwanese counterparts in the businesses of electrical connectors, battery packs and video-graphics-array (VGA) resolution lens modules as well as acoustic components and package materials.
However, the total number of Taiwanese suppliers is still ahead of the figures for Chinese companies in Apple’s supply chain. Moreover, Taiwanese makers still have the upper hand against their Chinese peers in fields such as printed circuit boards, camera lenses, backlight modules, thermal modules, flat panels, handset camera modules, casing, power supply units and final assembly services, the report showed.
As a result, the KGI analysts said the market might have overreacted to concerns about Taiwanese orders being substantially taken away by Chinese makers, citing the fact that Taiwanese companies generally have a higher-end product lineup than Chinese firms.
“Overall, Taiwanese firms in Apple’s supply chain still enjoy certain competitive advantages, especially those supported by advanced technology,” Hsiang and Lin said.
Among Taiwanese supply-chain companies, KGI particularly favors handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光), Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) in power supply unit business, as well as metal casing suppliers Catcher Technology Co (可成) and Casetek Holdings Ltd (鎧勝), according to the report.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Pegatron Corp (和碩), an iPhone assembler for Apple Inc, is to spend NT$5.64 billion (US$186.82 million) to acquire HTC Corp’s (宏達電) factories in Taoyuan and invest NT$578.57 million in its India subsidiary to expand manufacturing capacity, after its board approved the plans on Wednesday. The Taoyuan factories would expand production of consumer electronics, and communication and computing devices, while the India investment would boost production of communications devices and possibly automotive electronics later, a Pegatron official told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday. Pegatron expects to complete the Taoyuan factory transaction in the third quarter, said the official, who declined to be
RSS