IC DESIGNERS
MediaTek revenue surges
Integrated circuit designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday posted record revenue of NT$23.02 billion (US$710,231) for last month, fueled by a stabilizing smartphone market and restocking demand. Last month’s revenue rose 7.89 percent from March and grew 52.32 percent from the previous year, the company said in a statement. In the first four months of the year, total revenue expanded 25.98 percent to NT$78.93 billion from the same period last year. Last week, the company forecast revenue this quarter would grow by between 24 percent and 32 percent quarter-on-quarter to between NT$69.3 billion and NT$73.8 billion.
PANEL MAKERS
AUO revenue declines
AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) yesterday said its revenue for last month declined 1.7 percent from the previous month and dropped 15.5 percent from the previous year to NT$25.81 billion. That brought the panel maker’s revenue between January and last month to NT$96.95 billion, down 22.96 percent from the same period last year. Shipments of TV and PC panels contracted 6.4 percent from March to 8.93 million units, while those of small and medium-sized panels declined 7 percent to 13.7 million units, the company said.
IC EQUIPMENT
HMI posts lower sales
Electron beam wafer inspection equipment maker Hermes Microvision Inc (HMI, 漢微科) yesterday reported declining sales for last month, but said the figures were higher than the previous year as it benefited from customers’ migration to next-generation semiconductor technology. Consolidated sales dropped 39.33 percent month-on-month, but surged 153.4 percent year-on-year to NT$433 million last month, the company said.
FINANCE
Mega net income declines
State-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) yesterday reported that net income last month declined 4.8 percent year-on-year to NT$2.73 billion. Aggregate net income in the first quarter was NT$10.37 billion, translating to earnings per share of NT$0.75. In a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the company said its flagship unit, Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商銀), posted net income of NT$8.81 billion in the first four months, down 2.96 percent year-on-year.
BANKING
Fitch bullish on Basel III
Local banks are on track to meet the Basel III capital requirements and have adequate capital as a buffer against any economic challenges ahead, Fitch Ratings said in a report on Thursday. The local banking sector’s capitalization is better than it appears and the sector is not highly leveraged, as a result of tougher rules on core capital eligibility and conservative risk-weighting, Fitch said. Among local, only a few, mostly state-run banks, require additional capital to meet the 2019 Basel III requirements, Fitch said.
AUTO PARTS
Tung Thih shares plunge
Shares in Tung Thih Electronic Co (同致), the world’s third-largest supplier of smart parking systems, fell by the daily maximum yesterday to NT$480 after last month’s sales missed market expectations. Consolidated revenue dropped 19.74 percent month-on-month to NT$829 million, but rose 55.4 percent year-on-year, Tung Thih said in a statement on Thursday. The company’s sales for last month fell short of market expectations mainly due to slowing sales of SUVs.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi 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. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in