ENTERTAINMENT
VHQ buys into TV dramas
Singapore-based VHQ Media Holdings Ltd (威馳克媒體) yesterday said it has purchased a 70 percent stake in Beijing Jupiter Cultural Media Inc (木星時代文化傳媒), a deal that is likely contribute to its revenue and earnings this quarter. VHQ, which trades on the Taipei Exchange, said it expects that the extension into TV dramas through the 173.6 million yuan (US$25.1 million) deal would help it leverage its strengths in movie production, TV commercial visual design, special effects, post-production and 3D animation. VHQ said it remains optimistic for this year, as orderbook visibility stretches until next year.
SEMICONDUCTORS
PDC shares up on earnings
Prosperity Dielectrics Co Ltd (PDC, 信昌電子陶瓷) shares yesterday rose 9.91 percent after it reported that net profit increased 322 percent annually in August. The Taoyuan-based company, which supplies chip capacitors, chip resistors, ceramic dielectric powder, semiconductor ceramics and silver paste, said that net profit reached NT$190 million (US$6.15 million) in August, with earnings per share (EPS) of NT$1.11, compared with NT$0.26 in the same month last year. Cumulative net profit totaled NT$372 million for July and August, up 389 percent year-on-year, with EPS of NT$2.16, PDC said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
ELECTRONICS
Parade approves buyback
Parade Technologies Ltd (譜瑞), which specializes in designing and selling high-speed signal transmission interfaces and display chips, yesterday said its board of directors has approved a share buyback scheme and would transfer the repurchased shares to its employees. The company plans to repurchase 500,000 shares on the open market from yesterday to Dec. 11 at NT$282.5 to NT$677 per share, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The repurchased shares would account for 0.63 percent of its total issuance, Parade said. The company’s shares yesterday closed up 8.92 percent at NT$403 in Taipei trading. They have declined 31.58 percent this year. The firm reported sales of NT$7.25 billion in first nine months, down 5.8 percent year-on-year.
ELECTRONICS
Ichia Q3 earnings strong
Handset keypad maker Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) on Thursday released unaudited operating results for last quarter showing pretax profit of NT$93 million, the highest for the period in four years. Shipments, product prices, yield rates and operating efficiency improved last quarter from the second quarter, the company said. From January through last month, cumulative pretax profit totaled NT$59 million, the company said in a statement. In the first nine months, consolidated revenue grew 1.68 percent annually to NT$5.34 billion, with gross margin of 6 percent and operating losses of NT$7 million, Ichia said.
ENERGY
Tatung OKs solar plant
Home appliance supplier Tatung Co (大同) on Thursday said its board of directors voted to invest in a 133 megawatt (MW) solar power plant in Tainan’s Cigu District (七股), in addition to a 120MW solar plant in the area that the board approved earlier. Overall, Tatung said it plans to install 253MW of solar capacity in Tainan, as it strives to enhance its market share in solar power plants and assure long-term revenue and profit stability, the company said in a statement. Tatung has been aggressively inviting large-scale financial investors to participate in the investment, it added.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
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
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
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