COMPUTERS
Inventec revenue up 2.16%
Inventec Corp (英業達) yesterday posted revenue of NT$34.66 billion (US$1.15 billion) for last month, a year-on-year expansion of 2.16 percent from the NT$33.93 billion recorded in the same period last year. The firm’s accumulative revenue rose 3.96 percent year-on-year to NT$134.42 billion in the first four months of this year, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Inventec said its notebook segment, which accounted for more than 50 percent of its total revenue, shipped 1.3 million units last month. The company said it forecast total notebook shipments this quarter could increase by 5 percent from the previous quarter’s 4.25 million units.
HOME APPLIANCES
Tatung deal breaches rules
Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairman Cheng Cheng-mount (鄭貞茂) yesterday confirmed that Chinese investors had purchased about NT$1 billion of Tatung Co (大同) shares in a breach of the rules governing cross-strait investments, amid an ongoing management feud and proxy battle. Cheng vowed to enforce a NT$600,000 fine against the Chinese investors involved and said that it must not be paid by SinoPac Securities (Asia) Ltd (永豐金證券亞洲), a Hong Kong-based brokerage subsidiary of SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控), which facilitated the purchases. He said that the commission would look into pushing for an amendment to raise the relatively light penalty while responding to lawmakers’ questions at the legislature in Taipei.
ELECTRONICS
Minister backs Hon Hai plan
Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) yesterday expressed support for a plan by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, to invest in the US. In an interview with Yahoo TV, Chen said because Hon Hai mainly focuses on assembly, it needs to be close to its customers and markets. He said it would be beneficial if the nation’s component-based industries set up operations around the world, because that would enable them to seize a share of other markets. In particular, he said, Taiwanese companies should establish operations in India. Once they gain a foothold there, Taiwan-made components could create more value elsewhere, he added. Hon Hai released a statement on April 29 confirming it was in talks with the US government over possible investments in the US after chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) was filmed visiting the White House.
CHIPMAKERS
MediaTek revenue slumps
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), which supplies handset chips primarily to Chinese smartphone makers, yesterday posted a 22.91 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter of NT$17.75 billion, down from NT$23.02 billion in April last year. On a monthly basis, revenue fell 14.75 percent from March’s NT$20.82 billion. MediaTek forecast that its revenue would be flat or grow 8 percent this quarter as demand from smartphone makers recovers. Memorychip makers Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) and Marconix International Co (旺宏電子) reported that revenue last quarter grew 45.11 percent and 17.5 percent year-on-year to NT$4.32 billion and NT$2.05 billion respectively, as tight supply boosted chip prices. Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子), another memorychip maker, reported a 3.28 percent annual growth in revenue for last quarter at NT$3.64 billion.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
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