PASSIVE COMPONENTS
Yageo revenue surges 80%
Yageo Corp (國巨), the world’s biggest passive component supplier, yesterday said its consolidated revenue surged 80 percent year-on-year to NT$4.27 billion (US$146.2 million) last month, thanks to increasing demand in all segments. That represented month-on-month growth of 32.8 percent from NT$3.22 billion in February. The company also benefited from high-end product expansion, Yageo said in a statement. In the first quarter, revenue surged 62 percent year-on-year to NT$11.03 billion. Yageo expects profits to grow for the rest of the year, backed by further product mix optimization and increasing demand for high-end products.
FLAT PANELS
Innolux revenue falls 28%
Innolux Corp (群創), the flat-panel manufacturing arm of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday posted revenue of NT$22.58 billion for last year, a year-on-year decline of 28 percent from NT$31.35 billion due to falling panel prices. On a monthly basis, revenue grew 24.9 percent from NT$18.08 billion. In the first quarter, revenue slid 22.4 percent to NT$66.8 billion from NT$86.03 billion during the same period the previous year. Compared with the fourth quarter of last year, revenue declined 15.6 percent. Shipments of large flat panels shrank 8.1 percent quarter-on-quarter to 28.07 million units last quarter, while small and medium panel shipments contracted 7 percent to 68.57 million units.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
CDFHC income soars 77%
China Development Financial Holding Corp (CDFHC, 中華開發金控) yesterday reported that net income in the first quarter rose 77 percent year-on-year to NT$3.19 billion as the company profited from its direct investments and the contribution of China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽), in which it has a 34.96 percent stake. Earnings per share were NT$0.22. However, the company reported that its lending arm, KGI Bank (凱基銀行), incurred a loss of NT$283 million due to a spike in global market volatility. Separately, E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) reported that its net income in the first quarter rose 25.2 percent year-on-year to NT$4.67 billion on the back of steady loan growth and rising fee income. Earnings per share were NT$0.46.
ELECTRONICS
Acer hit by FX losses
Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday said that its consolidated revenue inched up 1.42 percent year-on-year last month to NT$22.64 billion, bringing the total revenue for the first quarter to NT$54.77 billion. Last quarter’s revenue slid 2.25 percent year-on-year from NT$56.03 billion due to an unfavorable foreign exchange rate, the firm said. Excluding the foreign exchange factor, revenue would have grown 3.52 percent, Acer said in a statement. Acer attributed the revenue growth primarily to robust demand for its gaming PCs, which saw revenue surge 60 percent year-on-year.
INTERNET
China bans four news apps
Chinese state media reported that four popular news apps have been temporarily removed from Google Play following an order from regulators. The Web site of the Beijing Daily said Toutiao (今日頭條), Phoenix News (鳳凰新媒體), NetEase News (網易新聞) and Tiantian Kuaibao (天天快報) had been suspended yesterday. It said Toutiao would be suspended for three weeks and resume services on April 30, while Phoenix News would be taken down for two weeks, NetEase News for one week and Tiantian for three days.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES? The economics ministry said that political factors should not affect supply chains linking global satellite firms and Taiwanese manufacturers Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) asked Taiwanese suppliers to transfer manufacturing out of Taiwan, leading to some relocating portions of their supply chain, according to sources employed by and close to the equipment makers and corporate documents. A source at a company that is one of the numerous subcontractors that provide components for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet products said that SpaceX asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan because of geopolitical risks, pushing at least one to move production to Vietnam. A second source who collaborates with Taiwanese satellite component makers in the nation said that suppliers were directly
Top Taiwanese officials yesterday moved to ease concern about the potential fallout of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, making a case that the technology restrictions promised by the former US president against China would outweigh the risks to the island. The prospect of Trump’s victory in this week’s election is a worry for Taipei given the Republican nominee in the past cast doubt over the US commitment to defend it from Beijing. But other policies championed by Trump toward China hold some appeal for Taiwan. National Development Council Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) described the proposed technology curbs as potentially having
EXPORT CONTROLS: US lawmakers have grown more concerned that the US Department of Commerce might not be aggressively enforcing its chip restrictions The US on Friday said it imposed a US$500,000 penalty on New York-based GlobalFoundries Inc, the world’s third-largest contract chipmaker, for shipping chips without authorization to an affiliate of blacklisted Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯). The US Department of Commerce in a statement said GlobalFoundries sent 74 shipments worth US$17.1 million to SJ Semiconductor Corp (盛合晶微半導體), an affiliate of SMIC, without seeking a license. Both SMIC and SJ Semiconductor were added to the department’s trade restriction Entity List in 2020 over SMIC’s alleged ties to the Chinese military-industrial complex. SMIC has denied wrongdoing. Exports to firms on the list