Wintek Corp (勝華), which supplies touchpanels to Amazon.com, Inc and Chinese handset maker Xiaomi Corp (小米), yesterday said its revenue plunged about 34 percent last month due to slow seasonal demand for tablets and smartphones.
Wintek’s revenue declined to NT$5.01 billion (US$165 million) last month, compared with NT$7.55 billion in December last year, a company statement said. The figure was down by about 32 percent from the NT$7.35 billion it posted in January last year.
“The contraction is primarily because of slow seasonal demand in the first quarter… Demand for tablets and smartphones, in particular, are affected by seasonal sentiment,” company spokesman Jay Huang (黃傑洲) said by telephone.
“The Lunar New Year holiday also curtailed end-customer demand [for electronics],” Huang added.
In a strategic shift, Wintek plans to develop more touchpanels primarily for smartphones this year to gain more orders from existing clients, Huang said.
Currently, one-glass-solution touchpanels mostly used in PCs are the major product shipped by Wintek, accounting for more than 70 percent of its total shipments, Huang said.
Wintek shares tumbled 1.68 percent to NT$9.93 yesterday, versus the TAIEX’s 2.34 percent loss, while local rival TPK Holding Co Ltd (宸鴻) plunged 2.86 percent to NT$186.5.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process