TAXATION
National revenue declines
The nation’s tax revenue last month decreased NT$36.6 billion (US$1.178 billion), or 13 percent, to NT$243.9 billion from the same period last year, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The ministry attributed the decline mainly to a NT$32.4 billion decrease in business income tax revenue, although revenue from tobacco and alcohol taxes gained NT$2.2 billion and health and welfare taxes increased NT$1.6 billion year-on-year. Aggregate tax revenue in the first nine months of the year increased NT$74.7 billion, or 4.2 percent, to NT$1.858 trillion from the same period last year. The nine-month figure was 3.6 percent higher than its target, the ministry said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
King Yuan obtains loan
King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電子), a provider of testing for integrated circuits, yesterday said it had obtained NT$14.2 billion in a syndicated loan from 17 local lenders led by Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行). The company plans to use the funds to improve its working capital and repay long-term debts, it said in a statement. The company posted a 10 percent quarterly increase in revenue for last quarter totaling NT$5.52 billion, an all-time high. It said it benefited from increased demand for chips used in smartphones, cars and Internet-of-Things applications.
CHIPMAKERS
Macronix settles lawsuits
Memorychip maker Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) yesterday said it has settled patent infringement lawsuits with Toshiba Corp in the US after the Japanese chipmaker agreed to pay US$40 million. It was the second victory for the Hsinchu-based company after Toshiba last week agreed to pay US$40 billion to settle a series of patent infringement suits in Taiwan and Japan. In March, Marconix filed complaints with the US International Trade Commission and a district court in California, accusing Toshiba of illegally using its patents. The commission on Tuesday ruled that Toshiba had infringed patents owned by Macronix, the company said.
ELECTRICITY
Taipower approves bonds
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said its board had approved a proposal to raise NT$13.8 billion through the issuance of corporate bonds to fund green energy and power generation projects. The bonds, which include NT$2.9 billion in “green” bonds with a maturity of five years, are to be issued and traded from the middle of next month, Taipower said in a statement. The state-run utility issued NT$8.3 billion of the bonds in December last year, followed by another NT$2.4 billion issuance in April.
FINANCING
Hotai Finance to debut
Hotai Finance Corp (和潤), which provides car loan and insurance services, is expected to begin trading its shares on the Emerging Stock Board — a preparatory board for the nation’s two main bourses — on Monday at NT$53 per share. Hotai Finance is a joint venture between Hotai Motor Co (和泰) and Toyota Financial Services, which have stakes of 65.77 and 33.27 percent respectively. The amount of auto financing and installment loans for production equipment reached NT$60.7 billion in the first eight months of the year, up 17 percent from the same period last year, Hotai Finance told an investors’ conference yesterday. The amount was NT$81.2 billion for all of last year.
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
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