ELECTRONICS
Consumption hits record
The nation recorded its highest electricity consumption yesterday afternoon as the mercury soared with the approach of Typhoon Nepartak, state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said. The peak electricity consumption was recorded at 35.56 million kilowatts at 1:45pm, which was 175,000 kilowatts higher than the previous record of 35.385 million kilowatts set on July 2 last year, Taipower said. The percentage of operating reserves fell to 3.07 percent.
ELECTRONICS
Elan revenue rises 10.68%
Touchpanel controller chipmaker Elan Microelectronics Corp (義隆電子) yesterday said its revenue increased 10.68 percent year-on-year and 4.75 percent month-on-month to NT$541 million (US$16.69 million) last month, the highest in seven months. Elan attributed the monthly increase to higher contributions from its touchscreen chips and touch-pad applications for notebook computers. From January to last month, revenue totaled NT$2.95 billion, down 7.86 percent from the same period last year, Elan said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
ELECTRONICS
FIT Hon Teng plans IPO
FIT Hon Teng (鴻騰精密), a connector unit of the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), has submitted an application to the Hong Kong stock exchange, aiming to raise between US$1 billion and US$1.5 billion in an initial public offering later this year, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported yesterday. FIT Hon Teng reported net profit of US$177 million last year, down 5.35 percent year-on-year. The company’s sales totaled US$2.33 billion last year, with 35.7 percent coming from Hon Hai.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Tai Tong revenue up 10.28%
The Tai Tong Food & Beverage Group (TTFB, 瓦城泰統集團), a large Taiwanese restaurant operator, yesterday reported its revenue grew 10.28 percent year-on-year to NT$2 billion last month. The annual growth rate for last month marked the sixth consecutive month of double-digit growth. Looking forward Tai Tong said sales for this quarter would reach a new quarterly high this year.
E-COMMERCE
Yahoo-Kimo opens store
Yahoo-Kimo (雅虎奇摩), the leading Taiwanese e-commerce platform company, yesterday launched its first brick-and-mortar store in cooperation with Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店) to develop omni-channel retailing. Omni-channel retailing means that the traditional boundaries between physical and online stores disappear. Yahoo-Kimo said customers can make orders on products displayed in the experience store via QR code scanning. The company said it hopes to launch more physical stores in the future. Like normal FamilyMart convenience stores, the experience store is also open 24 hours, Yahoo-Kimo said.
INSURANCE
Deposit coverage No. 3: CDIC
The nation’s deposit insurance coverage is the third-highest in the world, indicating that the nation is keen to protect local consumers and their assets, the government-run Central Deposit Insurance Corp (CDIC, 中央存保) said on Tuesday. The nation’s deposit insurance coverage of NT$3 million (US$92,820) per depositor comes only behind the US, which provides up to US$250,000 in deposit insurance coverage, and the eurozone, where the insurance coverage limit stands at 100,000 euros (US$111,000).
Staff writer, with CNA
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
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