Machinery maker Hiwin Technologies Co (上銀科技), which has set up branches in nine countries, on Friday said that seeking investment opportunities in Japan would be its top priority this year.
“We are considering purchasing a plot of 7,800 ping [25,785m2] in Kobe, Japan, to build an innovation center, warehouses and ball screw production lines, and to better serve customers there,” Hiwin chairman Eric Chuo (卓永財) said at the company’s annual banquet for staff in Taichung.
Hiwin is also considering building plants in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture, he said, adding that the company plans to finalize its decision in the third quarter of this year at the earliest.
Photo: CNA
The company also aims to cement its position in Japan by acquiring a Japanese machinery maker by the end of this year, Chuo said, adding that in the coming months, Hiwin plans to expand capacity in South Korea and Italy, where it already has subsidiaries.
“To fund those overseas projects, we do not rule out the possibility of raising capital this year,” Chuo said.
Chuo declined to elaborate on the company’s capital expenditure budget for this year, but he provided an optimistic business outlook, saying the global machinery market is expected to remain undersupplied throughout the year because of a shortfall of key machinery components.
The shortage of linear guideways and ball screws, the Taichung-based machinery maker’s two benchmark products, is expected to persist this year, but higher prices resulting from the tight supply would boost the company’s revenue, Hiwin said.
Hiwin was also upbeat about its subsidiaries, and said that Hiwin Mikrosystem Co (大銀微系統) has set a sales target of NT$3 billion (US$102.6 million) for this year, compared with last year’s nearly NT$2.4 billion.
Hiwin Mikrosystem, which is mainly engaged in the research and manufacturing of precision machinery components, plans to make its debut on the Taipei Exchange’s Emerging Stock Board in the fourth quarter, Chuo said.
Luren Precision Co (陸聯精密), Hiwin’s metal cutting machine tool unit, is expected to break even this year, he said, adding that Luren is to expand its distribution channels in Europe through collaboration with the UK-based Matrix Machine Tool Ltd.
Hiwin on Friday posted a record-high revenue of NT$2.26 billion for last month, up 77.76 percent from NT$1.27 billion a year earlier, company data showed.
The figure came after the company reported revenue of NT$21.17 billion for last year, up 31.3 percent from 2016 and also a record high.
“We believe Hiwin will continue to run at full capacity in the first quarter, but expect sales to decline 6 percent quarter-on-quarter owing to the Lunar New Year holiday, while year-on-year growth will stay above 30 percent,” Morgan Stanley analysts Melrose Chiu (邱詩閔) and Sharon Shih (施曉娟) said in a note on Jan. 8.
They added that its operating margin would stay at a relatively high 17.1 percent.
Hiwin shares on Friday gained 1.07 percent to close at NT$377 in Taipei trading, the highest level in the company’s history.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors