BANKING
OBU assets listed
The 62 offshore banking units (OBUs) of banks operating in Taiwan posted total assets of US$181.924 billion last month, down US$5.083 billion, or 2.7 percent, from the previous month, the central bank said in a statement yesterday. The OBUs of 37 Taiwanese banks held US$157.204 billion in assets, while US$24.72 billion in assets were held by the OBUs of 25 foreign banks, the central bank said, without elaborating on the decline in total assets. The OBUs’ lending made up about 44.9 percent of their total assets, with interbank lending and deposits accounting for 18.7 percent. Securities investments accounted for an additional 16.2 percent, the central bank said.
ELECTRONICS
Winbond reports earnings
Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子) yesterday reported earnings per share of NT$0.9 for the whole of last year, compared with NT$0.83 the previous year. Net income rose 7 percent year-on-year to NT$3.29 billion (US$97.92 million) last year, with consolidated revenue increasing 1 percent to NT$38.35 billion — its highest in five years — and gross margin moving up 3 pecentage points to 31 percent, the company said in a statement. Specialty DRAM chips are Winbond’s biggest revenue source, providing more than 50 percent of its overall revenue last year.
WEDDING SERVICES
Clevo acquires Da Lue stake
PC maker Clevo Co (藍天) yesterday said it had acquired a 5 percent stake in Da Lue International Holding Co Ltd (大略), a Cayman Islands-registered wedding services provider, with a view to developing wedding-related business in China. Clevo, which operates Buynow (百腦匯) computer and electronics chain stores in China, said it is upbeat over Da Lue’s business prospects in China this year, after the wedding services provider reported earnings per share of NT$5.2 last year, an annual increase of 171 percent from 2014.
LIGHTING
Global reports record sales
Global Lighting Technologies Inc (茂林光電), a light guide plate maker, yesterday reported record-high sales results for last year and said it expects sales to grow this year on growing orders and capacity expansion. The Cayman Islands-registered company said earnings per share were NT$6.5 last year, with revenue of NT$7.06 billion and gross margin of 24 percent. The company said its new plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) is expected to start operations in the second quarter of this year. Analysts expect the company’s revenue to grow by between 10 and 20 percent to NT$8 billion this year, due to rising demand for large-sized TVs and Apple Inc computers.
FOOD
Wei Chuan to sell stakes
Wei Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品) yesterday said its board agreed to sell its 34 percent stakes in two subsidiaries that distribute coffee products made by Japan’s UCC Ueshima Coffee Co Ltd. The stakes are to be sold back to the Japanese company’s Singapore-based subsidiary, UCC Asia Pacific PTE Ltd, Wei Chuan said in a statement. The announcement came after UCC products were included in a boycott of products associated with scandal-ridden Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團) last year. Wei Chuan, a subsidiary of Ting Hsin, said that it is to focus on its core food business and did not specify prices involved in the deal.
PROTECTIONISM: China hopes to help domestic chipmakers gain more market share while preparing local tech companies for the possibility of more US sanctions Beijing is stepping up pressure on Chinese companies to buy locally produced artificial intelligence (AI) chips instead of Nvidia Corp products, part of the nation’s effort to expand its semiconductor industry and counter US sanctions. Chinese regulators have been discouraging companies from purchasing Nvidia’s H20 chips, which are used to develop and run AI models, sources familiar with the matter said. The policy has taken the form of guidance rather than an outright ban, as Beijing wants to avoid handicapping its own AI start-ups and escalating tensions with the US, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Her white-gloved, waistcoated uniform impeccable, 22-year-old Hazuki Okuno boards a bullet train replica to rehearse the strict protocols behind the smooth operation of a Japanese institution turning 60 Tuesday. High-speed Shinkansen trains began running between Tokyo and Osaka on Oct. 1, 1964, heralding a new era for rail travel as Japan grew into an economic superpower after World War II. The service remains integral to the nation’s economy and way of life — so keeping it dazzlingly clean, punctual and accident-free is a serious job. At a 10-story, state-of-the-art staff training center, Okuno shouted from the window and signaled to imaginary colleagues, keeping
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