The four major units of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday reported combined revenue of NT$105.7 billion (US$3.36 billion) for last month, a 5.2 percent decrease from July and a 4 percent drop from the same period last year.
The four units are Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化); Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠); Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp (台灣化學纖維) and Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠).
In the first eight months of the year, the group saw its combined revenue decrease 13.6 percent from the same period last year to NT$860.8 billion, company data showed.
On a monthly basis, the only unit to report an increase in sales was Nan Ya Plastics Corp, the plastic manufacturing arm of the group.
The company yesterday posted revenue of NT$23.2 billion for last month, up by 2.1 percent from July and 0.6 percent from the same period last year.
“The increase in revenue was the result of steady demand for electronics materials and polyester products,” Nan Ya Plastics chairman Wu Chia-chau (吳嘉昭) said, adding that only the sales of petrochemicals decreased last month.
Formosa Petrochemical, the nation’s only privately owned oil refiner, posted revenue of NT$41.7 billion for last month, a decrease of 9.1 percent from July and 10 percent year-on-year.
“Our olefin factories were undergoing scheduled maintenance last month, which depressed production volume, “ Formosa Petrochemical president Tsao Mihn (曹明) told a news conference.
Formosa Chemicals, a supplier of aromatics and styrene, reported sales lof NT$26.5 billion, down 5.1 percent from July, but up 3.5 percent on a yearly basis.
A plant based in Ningbo was shut down temporarily due to the G20 summit, which impacted the company’s sales, Formosa Chemicals president Hong Fu-yuan (洪福源) told reporters.
Formosa Plastics Corp, the nation’s largest producer of polyvinyl chloride, reported a 4 percent monthly decline in revenue to NT$14.2 billion last month, representing a 5.7 percent annual decline.
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