SEMICONDUCTORS
SPIL revenue declines 7.2%
Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密), the world’s No. 2 chip packager, yesterday said revenue fell by 7.2 percent to NT$6.88 billion (US$220.9 million) last month from NT$7.41 billion in May, according to a company statement. That brought the company’s second-quarter revenue to NT$21.24 billion, a 2.1 percent increase from the first quarter’s NT$20.81 billion. On an annual basis, revenue shrank 3.1 percent from NT$21.93 billion last year. The figure matched SPIL’s forecast, which ranged from NT$21.2 billion to NT$22.4 billion. Chairman Bough Lin (林文伯) last month said that demand would gradually pick up next month on the back of new product launches from smartphone brands other than Apple Inc. Business visibility for the second half of this year is still unclear, as unresolved debt problems in Europe and potential rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve are overshadowing global economic growth, Lin said.
CHIPMAKERS
Lextar yearly revenue falls
LED chipmaker Lextar Electronics Corp (隆達電子) yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$3.59 billion for last quarter, a 5 percent decline from NT$3.78 billion in the same period last year. On a quarterly basis, the total grew by 1.98 percent from NT$3.52 billion generated in the first quarter of this year, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Lextar’s consolidated revenue totaled NT$7.1 billion in the first half of this year, up 1.24 percent from NT$7.01 billion in the same period last year. Shares dropped 1.22 percent to NT$20.2 in Taipei trading yesterday, underperforming the TAIEX, which lost 1.09 percent.
PANELMAKERS
TPK revenue continues slide
Touchpanel maker TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) yesterday reported a 21.2 percent sequential decline in revenue for last month to NT$7.01 billion from NT$8.91 billion in May. In the period ending on Tuesday last week, revenue dropped 18 percent to NT$23.74 billion from NT$28.95 billion in the prior quarter. The decline is largely in line with the company’s forecast. TPK predicted that revenue could drop by between 15 percent and 20 percent from last quarter’s NT$28.9 billion, as demand dwindles following major smartphone and tablet clients’ product transitions. Sales are expected to recover in the second half of this year amid the launch of clients’ new products, TPK said. On an annual basis, last quarter’s revenue plunged by 22.7 percent from NT$30.7 billion in the same period last year.
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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