LIFE INSURERS
Firm credit quality expected
Taiwan’s major life insurers are likely to maintain stable credit quality over the next two years, Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評) said in a report yesterday. “Taiwan’s major life insurers share commonalities in terms of strong local market focus, stable market share and good control over distribution channels, but there are also differences in terms of market ranking, operating scale and the size of their established franchise,” said Patty Wang (王珮齡), an analyst at Taiwan Ratings, a subsidiary of Standard & Poor’s.
NETWORKING
Accton profit climbs 81.24%
Accton Technology Corp (智邦科技), a local maker of computer networking equipment such as routers, yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$24.74 billion (US$758.31 million) for last year, up 8.28 percent year-on-year, with net profit increasing 81.24 percent to NT$1.17 billion, or NT$2.19 per share. By product, network switches accounted for 62 percent of the company’s sales last quarter, carrier access solutions made up 20 percent, wireless local area networks 7 percent, broadband and gateway devices 2 percent and others 9 percent.
CHIPMAKERS
Sitronix eyes growth
Handset panel driver IC designer Sitronix Technology Co (矽創) yesterday said earnings per share reached NT$7.05 last year, the highest in eight years, with annual revenue of NT$9.27 billion, up 22 percent from the previous year. The company expects revenue to grow by a double-digit percentage this year, driven by smartphone driver ICs. The company has decided to pay a record-high cash dividend of NT$5 per share.
HOTELS
FIHC proposes payout
Formosa International Hotels Corp (FIHC, 晶華國際酒店集團) yesterday announced it plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$8.872 per share, which translates into a dividend yield of 4.18 percent based on yesterday’s share price of NT$212.5. Shareholders are scheduled to meet on June 15 to vote on the payout plan. The company reported earnings of NT$1.14 billion, or NT$8.96 per share, for last year.
MANUFACTURING
Hota to pay dividend
Hota Industrial Manufacturing Co (和大工業) yesterday said its board has decided to pay a cash dividend of NT$3.2 per share, after the company reported earnings per share of NT$4.62 for last year. Shareholders are to vote on the payout plan on June 23. Daiwa Capital Markets Inc forecast sales for this year would expand on a quarter-on-quarter basis thanks to solid orders from BorgWarner Inc, Tesla Motors Inc and Punch Powertrain NV. The company, which makes gears and shafts for automobiles, reported total sales of NT$5.299 billion last year.
ELECTRONICS
Gigabyte to see weak year
Gigabyte Technology Corp (技嘉科技) is expected to see weak growth in sales during the first half of the year, Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said yesterday, citing a lack of new product launches and still-weak PC demand. Gigabyte saw sales contract 12.7 percent last quarter from the previous quarter to NT$12.22 billion, with earnings per share of NT$0.51. For the whole of last year, sales totaled NT$50.83 billion, with earnings per share of NT$3.05. Yuanta said sales might pick up from the end of the third quarter, when Intel Corp launches its new KabyLake platform.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such