Wintek Corp (勝華), which supplies touchpanels to Amazon.com Inc and Chinese handset maker Xiaomi Corp (小米), yesterday reported 36 percent growth in its monthly revenue last month, but slack demand drove down its revenue for last quarter by 30 percent sequentially.
Wintek’s revenue jumped to NT$6.51 billion (US$213.9 million) last month, compared with NT$4.79 billion in February, bringing last quarter’s revenue to NT$16.31 billion, which was still down from the NT$23.29 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.
More than 60 percent of the company’s revenue last quarter was generated by flat panels used in smartphones, while about 10 percent came from notebook computer panels, Wintek said.
“January and February are a slow period. We are seeing signs of growth in March,” spokesman Jay Huang (黃傑洲) said by telephone. “The first-quarter performance should be the weakest of the year.”
The company could not provide a detailed forecast for the current quarter.
Meanwhile, making use of a quiet period, the company said it is preparing the issuance of 200 million new common shares in the form of global depository receipts, the proceeds of which are to be used to buy raw materials overseas and repay bank loans.
The touchpanel maker reported a net loss of NT$8.7 billion last year driven by oversupply and price reductions, which was a significant increase from the NT$3.95 billion in losses it posted in 2012. It marked the third straight loss-making year for the Greater Taichung-based company.
Wintek shares advanced 1 percent to NT$10.1 yesterday.
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
GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES? The economics ministry said that political factors should not affect supply chains linking global satellite firms and Taiwanese manufacturers Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) asked Taiwanese suppliers to transfer manufacturing out of Taiwan, leading to some relocating portions of their supply chain, according to sources employed by and close to the equipment makers and corporate documents. A source at a company that is one of the numerous subcontractors that provide components for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet products said that SpaceX asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan because of geopolitical risks, pushing at least one to move production to Vietnam. A second source who collaborates with Taiwanese satellite component makers in the nation said that suppliers were directly
Top Taiwanese officials yesterday moved to ease concern about the potential fallout of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, making a case that the technology restrictions promised by the former US president against China would outweigh the risks to the island. The prospect of Trump’s victory in this week’s election is a worry for Taipei given the Republican nominee in the past cast doubt over the US commitment to defend it from Beijing. But other policies championed by Trump toward China hold some appeal for Taiwan. National Development Council Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) described the proposed technology curbs as potentially having
TALENT FACTOR: The nation’s chip sector would be difficult to replace, but to maintain that advantage, Taiwan must retain skilled workers, an academic said A group of experts on Sunday called on Taiwan to strive to maintain its world-leading position in the semiconductor industry, with a US-China chip dispute expected to continue regardless of who becomes the next US president. Tamkang University Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies director Li Da-jung (李大中) said at a Taipei seminar on global semiconductor security that the relationship between the two superpowers would remain confrontational. There appears to be “no turning back” in US-China relations, as US presidential candidates US Vice President Kamala Harris and former US president Donald Trump are both expected to continue Washington’s hawkish stance