TELECOMS
Gemtek forecasts 40-60 split
Telecom equipment maker Gemtek Technology Co (正文) yesterday guided its full-year sales split to be 40-60 for the first and second halves of this year, as the company is shifting its focus on cloud-computing-related businesses. Consolidated sales for last year fell 0.87 percent to NT$17.53 billion (US$536.17 million) from a year earlier, with a net profit of NT$206 million, or NT$0.69 per share, Gemtek said. Apart from cloud-based solutions, wireless broadband products, long-term evolution-enabled items and equipment support for G-fast technology are expected to drive the company’s sales growth this year, Gemtek chairman Howard Chen (陳鴻文) said.
FINANCE
Mega chairman resigns
State-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) yesterday said that chairman Mckinney Tsai (蔡友才) has tendered his resignation and is to leave the post on Friday. Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) confirmed that Tsai had expressed his intention to leave the post about six months ago due to personal reasons, the Central News Agency reported. Chang said Mega Financial president Wu Hann-ching (吳漢卿) will take over management of the company until a new chairman is chosen by the incoming government after May 20.
INSURANCE
Taiwan Fire & Marine fined
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday fined Taiwan Fire & Marine Insurance Co (台灣產物保險) NT$4.8 million for irregularities in the company’s internal control mechanisms. The commission also decided to suspend the insurer’s sales of fire insurance to commercial users for one month beginning on April 15.
FINANCE
KD to continue ‘green’ focus
Investment holding company KD Holding Corp (崑鼎) yesterday said it would continue focusing on environmental protection, green energy and renewable energy businesses this year, hoping its total sales would be higher than last year’s NT$4.08 billion. The company said it also plans to invest in overseas markets, including China, Malaysia and India. The company reported a net profit of NT$710 million for last year, up 4.6 percent year-on-year, with earnings per share of NT$10.84.
ONLINE GAMES
X-Legend sales down
Online game publisher X-Legend Entertainment Co (傳奇網路) yesterday reported a net profit of NT$30 million for last year, with earnings per share of NT$0.27, the lowest in five years. Annual sales for last year decreased 15.92 percent to NT$1.24 billion, due to flat sales of new products and declining contribution from royalties. The company’s board on Monday approved a plan to pay a cash dividend of NT$0.25 per share, which is to be subject to a shareholder approval on June 22.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Inotera plan approved
Shareholders of Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技), a DRAM joint venture between Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) and Micron Technology Inc, yesterday approved plans to sell Nanya’s 24 percent holding in the company to Micron in a deal worth NT$132.5 billion. The transaction is expected to be completed in the middle of this year. Inotera will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Micron and will be delisted from the local stock market. Inotera’s board yesterday also approved a budget of NT$6.1 billion on developing 20-nanometer process technology.
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
‘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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
A move by US President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports is expected to place Taiwan-made steel, which already has a 25 percent tariff, on an equal footing, the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, association chairman Hwang Chien-chih (黃建智) said such an equal footing is expected to boost Taiwan’s competitive edge against other countries in the US market, describing the tariffs as "positive" for Taiwanese steel exporters. On Monday, Trump signed two executive orders imposing the new metal tariffs on imported steel and aluminum with no exceptions and exemptions, effective