ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai to have US HQ
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) said it is to establish a US headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as part of a massive investment it is making in an electronics manufacturing plant in the southeast of the state. The company, known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) internationally, on Tuesday said it is to purchase a seven-story building in downtown Milwaukee that has a capacity of 650 people. The building, to be called Foxconn Place, is to house business incubators and start-up initiatives, as well as Foxconn staff. The company is building a plant in Racine County to make LCD panels for commercial and consumer uses.
ENERGY
Storage first for Changhua
Danish energy company Orsted A/S yesterday announced it is to set up an energy storage facility with capacity of 1 megawatt (MW) in Changhua County, the first MW-sized energy storage system based on lithium-ion battery technology in Taiwan. “I believe Taiwan has great potential to become a ‘green’ energy hub in Asia, just like Denmark’s position in Europe. The energy storage project in Changhua, also our first storage in Asia, will enhance grid efficiency and stability,” Orsted wind power chief executive officer Martin Neubert said in a news release. Through collaboration with the Changhua County Government, Taiwan Power Co (台電), the Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院) and National Changhua University of Education, the project aims to encourage energy storage research and green energy development in Taiwan, the company said.
ELECTRONICS
CHPT net income up 22%
Chunghwa Precision Test Technology Co (CHPT, 中華精測), the nation’s largest probe card supplier, yesterday reported that net income last year increased 22 percent year-on-year to NT$736 million (US$25.1 million), with earnings per share of NT$23.51, up from NT$20.04 the previous year and the highest in company history. Gross margin also grew to 55.4 percent from 52.2 percent, while revenue rose 20 percent to NT$3.11 billion, the company said. To reward shareholders, the Taoyuan-based company said its board has approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$10 per common share.
GAMING
IGS income beats prediction
International Games System Co (IGS, 鈊象電子), the nation’s largest arcade and online game developer, on Tuesday reported better-than-expected net income of NT$877.78 million for last year, with earnings per share of NT$12.55. The results were down from 2016’s NT$890.37 million, or NT$12.78 per share, but gross margin improved from 80 percent to 85 percent. Revenue decreased 1.33 percent year-on-year to NT$3.28 billion, slightly affected by the ending of a deal with Aristocrat Leisure Ltd in June last year to codevelop slot machines.
ELECTRONICS
Wafer shipments up 10%
Global silicon wafer shipments last year increased 10 percent from a year earlier in terms of surface area, the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) said in a news release on Tuesday. Silicon wafers are the fundamental building material for semiconductors. According to SMG’s analysis, total silicon wafer area shipments were 11,810 million square inches last quarter, up from the 10,738 million square inches shipped the previous year. Worldwide silicon wafer revenue increased 21 percent to US$8.71 billion last year from US$7.21 billion in 2016, SMG’s analysis showed.
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
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