FOOD & BEVERAGE
Gourmet doubles income
Gourmet Master Co (美食達人), the operator of cafe and bakery chain 85°C (85度C), saw its net income last year doubled to NT$1.14 billion (US$34.60 million) from the previous year’s NT$527 million thanks to the company’s focus on organizational restructuring, cost control and brand building. Earnings per share were NT$8.07 last year, compared with the NT$3.74 recorded a year earlier. Total sales rose from NT$17.92 billion in 2014 to NT$20.46 billion last year, as store remodeling was progressing well in both Taiwan and China, the company said.
GAMING
Gamania sales increase
Gamania Digital Entertainment Co (遊戲橘子) on Friday said sales rose 7 percent annually to NT$9.68 billion last year, but net income grew by 316 percent to NT$390 million, the highest in nine years. Earnings per share were NT$2.46, the online games publisher said. Gamania attributed the increases to the launches of several new gaming titles last year, as well as contribution from its e-commerce subsidiary, Jollywiz Digital Technology Co (樂利數位).
MICROCHIPS
VIA swings to profit
Chip designer VIA Technologies Inc (威盛科技) on Friday said it swung into profit last year, thanks to the contribution of non-operating income of NT$2.63 billion. The company reported the first profitable year since 2005, with net profit of NT$823 million or earnings per share of NT$1.72. It still reported a net loss of NT$1.71 billion on an operating basis, with consolidated sales contracting by 27.39 percent to NT$4.73 billion. Last year, the company sold its handset chip subsidiary, VIA Telecom Co (威睿電通), to Intel Corp for an unspecific amount.
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98
COUNTRY-BASED: Setting ceilings on sales of the technology would tighten limits that originally targeted China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence amid security risks US officials have discussed capping sales of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Nvidia Corp and other American companies on a country-specific basis, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would limit some nations’ AI capabilities. The new approach would set a ceiling on export licenses for some countries in the interest of national security, according to the people, who described the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden focused on Persian Gulf countries that have a growing appetite for AI data centers and the deep pockets to fund them, the people