ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai sales up on year
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), which is a major assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, reported monthly sales of NT$280.02 billion (US$8.87 billion) last month, up 7.44 percent from the previous year. The monthly figure dropped 41.41 percent from January’s NT$396 billion. Consolidated revenue reached to a new record of NT$676.02 billion in the first two months of this year, according to a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which assembles Apple Inc’s latest products the Apple Watch and the 12-inch MacBook, yesterday reported a 20.64 percent annual decline in sales to NT$55.01 billion for last month. Revenue also contracted 21.54 percent from NT$70.12 billion in January. The company’s consolidated revenue totaled NT$125.14 billion in the first two months of this year, down 11.47 percent from the previous year.
CHIPMAKERS
TSMC predicts bumper year
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that in the wake of a reduced number of working days last month, its sales fell 28.1 percent from January. The decline had been widely anticipated due to the first quarter being the slow season for the global semiconductor industry. Last month, TSMC’s consolidated sales totaled NT$62.65 billion, down from NT$87.12 billion in January. Last month’s figure was the lowest since June last year, when the chipmaker’s sales stood at NT$60.34 billion. However, with demand for mobile devices on the rise, last month’s sales grew 33.8 percent from the previous year and were the highest for month on record.
ELECTRONICS
Apple tops phone sales list
Apple Inc ranked as the top smartphone seller in the nation in terms of both sales volume and value for the fourth consecutive month in January, thanks to strong demand for its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models, according to statistics released yesterday by industry sources. A total of 798,000 smartphones were sold in January, up 1 percent from a month earlier, and Apple took a 24.6 percent share, the figures showed. HTC Corp (宏達電) was in second place with an 18.1 percent share by sales volume, while Samsung Electronics Co ranked third with a 13.3 percent share. Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) was fourth with 12.6 percent, while Sony Mobile was fifth with 8.4 percent.
RETAIL
H&M plans more stores
Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M), a Swedish fast-fashion brand which opened its first shop in the nation last month, yesterday said that it plans to open another three stores in the second half of the year — in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. H&M, founded in 1947, has more than 3,500 stores in 55 markets worldwide.
TELECOMS
CHT sees profit rise 3.4%
Chunhgwa Telecom Co (CHT, 中華電信) yesterday said its net profit grew 3.4 percent to NT$3.74 billion last month, compared with NT$3.61 billion in the same period last year. Revenue increased 4.3 percent to NT$19.09 billion from NT$18.29 billion a year ago. In the first two months, net profit rose 3.3 percent annually to NT$7.3 billion, accounting for 19 percent of the company’s forecast of NT$37.5 billion in net profit for this year. Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) said net profit reached NT$1.15 billion last month on revenue of NT$9.47 billion. Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (遠傳電信) posted NT$994 million in net profit for last month.
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
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