PHARMACEUTICALS
TTY shares drop near limit
Shares of drug maker TTY Biopharm Co (台灣東洋藥品) fell close to the maximum daily limit of 7 percent to NT$68.40 yesterday following a search by Taipei prosecutors on Wednesday of former chairman Lin Rong-jin’s (林榮錦) residence over embezzlement allegations. Prosecutors also searched the offices of Center Laboratories Inc (晟德) and two other companies run by Lin, who stepped down as TTY chairman in June last year. Lin is accused of embezzling NT$400 million (US$12.49 million) from 2009 to last year through dubious patent transactions which caused damage to TTY, the Chinese-language Liberty Times reported yesterday.
INTERNET
CyberLink touts new app
CyberLink Corp (訊連科技), the maker of the PhotoDirector suite of editing tools, on Wednesday set an upbeat target for its new messaging app as part of its efforts to diversify its mobile business. CyberLink chairman Jau Huang (黃肇雄) said he hopes U messenger, launched last month, would reach 10 million downloads worldwide in the next three years. The app has seen 100,000 downloads so far, he said. Popular messaging app Line took a little more than a year to reach 50 million downloads, while Twitter took three years and Facebook a little more than three-and-a-half years.
CHIPMAKERS
Winbond sees annual growth
Memory chipmaker Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子) yesterday said that its consolidated revenue of NT$3.14 billion last month represented a rise of 17.03 percent year-on-year, but a decrease of 2.59 percent month-on-month. While Winbond’s revenue for last quarter dropped 3.68 percent from the previous quarter due to seasonally weak demand, the firm’s total revenue for last year grew 14.65 percent from 2013 to reach NT$37.99 — its highest in four years. Specialty DRAM chips are Winbond’s biggest revenue source, providing more than 50 percent of its overall revenue last year.
Semiconductors
Hermes posts solid growth
Semiconductor equipment maker Hermes Microvision Inc (HMI, 漢微科) on Wednesday reported solid growth in sales last month, driving its total sales for last year up 35 percent from 2013 to NT$7.21 billion. Consolidated sales rose to NT$1.59 billion last month, Hermes Microvision said in a stock exchange filing. That was 137 percent higher than a year earlier, a 104 percent increase month-on-month and the highest in the company’s history. The company’s sales for this quarter might decline 32 percent from last quarter due to decreasing orders from Samsung Electronics Co and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, Deutsche Bank said in a note.
Chipmakers
Novatek sees record sales
Novatek Microelectronics Corp (聯詠), the nation’s biggest supplier of driver ICs for LCD panels, on Wednesday said sales for last quarter beat the company’s guidance, lifting its full-year revenue to a record level. Consolidated sales were NT$15.108 billion in the October-to-December quarter, 1.13 percent lower than the previous quarter. However, the figure still beat the company’s forecast of between NT$14.5 billion and NT$14.9 billion, which Novatek attributed to gains in market share and solid demand for its new products during the slow season. For the whole of last year, the company’s consolidated sales hit a record level of NT$54.066 billion, up 30.44 percent year-on-year, Novatek said.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
AVIATION: Despite production issues in the US, the Taoyuan-based airline expects to receive 24 passenger planes on schedule, while one freight plane is delayed The ongoing strike at Boeing Co has had only a minor impact on China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), although the delivery of a new cargo jet might be postponed, CAL chairman Hsieh Su-chien (謝世謙) said on Saturday. The 24 Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft on order would be delivered on schedule from next year to 2028, while one 777F freight aircraft would be delayed, Hsieh told reporters at a company event. Boeing, which announced a decision on Friday to cut 17,000 jobs — about one-tenth of its workforce — is facing a strike by 33,000 US west coast workers that has halted production
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