Flexible printed circuit board and handset keypad maker Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) has continued to be rocked by China’s tougher environmental regulations, as the company was dealt fresh penalties by local authorities in Suzhou.
Ichia’s production facility in Suzhou was fined 1.57 million yuan (US$235,354) for industrial water pollution, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The penalties came after the company announced that portions of its Suzhou production lines were allowed to go back online on Friday last week and on Monday, after Suzhou authorities ordered a full shutdown of the facility at the end of last month.
SALES DROP
The production disruption at the Suzhou plant, which contributes about 80 percent to its total revenue, has resulted in a 10 percent sequential and annual decline in sales last month to NT$537 million, Ichia said.
During an investors’ conference yesterday, Ichia general manager Larry Sun (孫永祥) pledged that the company would raise its commitment toward meeting Chinese environmental regulations.
The company would mitigate risks of production disruptions by spending US$1 million to expand its capacity in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), he said.
Despite the disruptions, the company gave an optimistic outlook for the second half of the year, as the industry enters its high season.
Sales would be boosted by rising shipments of niche market products for data centers, as well as optical communication and automotive applications, it said..
XIAOMI LINK
Industry observers have said that Ichia and other suppliers to Xiaomi Corp (小米) came under scrutiny as the Chinese smartphone and smart appliances maker launched its initial public offering on Monday.
Ichia has said that while it does not sell products directly to Xiaomi, its other customers might be part of the Chinese brand’s supply chain.
Ichia posted a pre-tax income of NT$97 million (US$3.18 million) last quarter, or NT$0.32 per share. That compares with a net loss of NT$108 million in the first half.
Second-quarter revenue rose 12.3 percent from the previous quarter to NT$1.79 billion, with gross margin improving 5 percentage points to 7 percent over the period, the company said.
Ichia shares rose 2.05 percent to close at NT$17.40 in Taipei trading yesterday.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
RSS