SERVICES
Sentiment index gains
The service sector showed signs of improvement in March, with an index gauging industry sentiment indicating accelerated momentum, according to a survey conducted by the Commerce Development Research Institute. The survey showed that the index rose to 104, up 1 point from a month earlier, the Taipei-based think tank said in a statement on Friday. The institute said the index could show steady growth for last month as the sector continues to benefit from rising consumption resulting from continued outbound sales growth.
SMARTPHONES
HTC revenue down
HTC Corp (宏達電) on Friday reported consolidated revenue of NT$4.71 billion (US$156 million) for last month, down 18.03 percent year-on-year and 9.4 percent month-on-month as demand for its smartphones remained weak. During the first four months of the year, HTC’s revenue totaled NT$19.24 billion, down 6.5 percent from a year earlier, the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange said. HTC is forecast to remain in the red for the first quarter. It is to release its financial results tomorrow. Net losses for last year totaled NT$10.56 billion.
FREIGHT
T3EX income up by 367.1%
Freight forwarder and logistics operator T3EX Global Holdings Corp (台驊國際投資控股) reported its net income surged 367.1 percent year-on-year to NT$29.59 million in the first quarter, with earnings per share of NT$0.27. It attributed the increase to rising air and sea freight sales amid a gradual global economic recovery, as well as a better customer mix and improving operational efficiency. T3EX said it is upbeat about sales, as global trade is expected to continue to improve from last year.
RECYCLE: Taiwan would aid manufacturers in refining rare earths from discarded appliances, which would fit the nation’s circular economy goals, minister Kung said Taiwan would work with the US and Japan on a proposed cooperation initiative in response to Beijing’s newly announced rare earth export curbs, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. China last week announced new restrictions requiring companies to obtain export licenses if their products contain more than 0.1 percent of Chinese-origin rare earths by value. US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent on Wednesday responded by saying that Beijing was “unreliable” in its rare earths exports, adding that the US would “neither be commanded, nor controlled” by China, several media outlets reported. Japanese Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato yesterday also
‘DRAMATIC AND POSITIVE’: AI growth would be better than it previously forecast and would stay robust even if the Chinese market became inaccessible for customers, it said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday raised its full-year revenue growth outlook after posting record profit for last quarter, despite growing market concern about an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble. The company said it expects revenue to expand about 35 percent year-on-year, driven mainly by faster-than-expected demand for leading-edge chips for AI applications. The world’s biggest contract chipmaker in July projected that revenue this year would expand about 30 percent in US dollar terms. The company also slightly hiked its capital expenditure for this year to US$40 billion to US$42 billion, compared with US$38 billion to US$42 billion it set previously. “AI demand actually
Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), founder and CEO of US-based artificial intelligence chip designer Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Friday celebrated the first Nvidia Blackwell wafer produced on US soil. Huang visited TSMC’s advanced wafer fab in the US state of Arizona and joined the Taiwanese chipmaker’s executives to witness the efforts to “build the infrastructure that powers the world’s AI factories, right here in America,” Nvidia said in a statement. At the event, Huang joined Y.L. Wang (王英郎), vice president of operations at TSMC, in signing their names on the Blackwell wafer to
Taiwan-based GlobalWafers Co., the world’s third largest silicon wafer supplier, on Wednesday opened a 12-inch silicon wafer plant in Novara, northern Italy - the country’s most advanced silicon wafer facility to date. The new plant, coded “Fab300,” was launched by GlobalWafers’ Italian subsidiary MEMC Electronics Materials S.p.A at a ceremony attended by Taiwan’s representative to Italy Vincent Tsai (蔡允中), MEMC President Marco Sciamanna and Novara Mayor Alessandro Canelli. GlobalWafers Chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said the investment marked a milestone in the company’s expansion in Europe, adding that the Novara plant will be powered entirely by renewable energy - a reflection of its
RSS