MACHINERY
Hiwin Mikrosystem to debut
Hiwin Mikrosystem Co (大銀微系統), a subsidiary of machinery maker Hiwin Technologies Co (上銀科技), is to start trading on the Emerging Stock Board on Monday next week, the Central News Agency reported yesterday. The unit, which researches and manufactures precision machinery components, last year had paid-in capital of NT$1.06 billion (US$34.2 million) and reported revenue of NT$2.4 billion. In the first nine months of this year, revenue totaled NT$2.22 billion, up 28.94 percent from the same period last year, company data showed.
RETAIL
Sogo preps anniversary sale
Far Eastern Sogo Department Store (遠東Sogo百貨) is targeting NT$10.8 billion in sales over its 12-day anniversary period, which is to begin on Nov. 8, chairwoman Sophia Huang (黃晴雯) said yesterday. It would represent a year-on-year increase of 1.8 percent from NT$10.6 billion made last year, the retailer said. Huang said she is confident despite US-China trade tensions and a stock market slump.
ELECTRONICS
Sinbon posts record EPS
Sinbon Electronics Co (信邦電子), which produces cables, connectors and modems, yesterday reported net profit of NT$1.19 billion in the first three quarters of the year, up 21.84 percent year-on-year, with earnings per share (EPS) of NT$5.26, the highest ever for the period. However, average gross margin dropped from 25.11 percent to 24.88 percent, the company said. Sinbon also announced a 61.79 million yuan (US$8.9 million) investment in its Chinese subsidiary, Beijing Sinbon TongAn Electronics Co (北京信邦同安電子), which also produces cables and components.
SHIPPING
Evergreen to issue shares
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), the nation’s biggest shipping line, on Wednesday said its board of directors had voted to issue 300 million new shares at NT$10.7 apiece. The firm said that the proceeds are to help redeem borrowings and improve financial ratios. Eighty percent of the new shares are to be reserved for existing shareholders, while 10 percent are set aside for employees and 10 percent are to be publicly available, the company said.
ECONOMY
M1B rises on deposits
Last month’s M1B — a measure of the money in circulation — grew 5.22 percent year-on-year, slightly up from 5.21 percent in August on higher growth in passbook savings deposits, the central bank said on Wednesday. M2 — which includes the M1B, time deposits, foreign-currency deposits and mutual funds — saw annual growth decrease to 3.34 percent from 3.42 percent due to slower growth in foreign currency deposits, the bank said. For the first nine months, the average annual growth rates of M1B and M2 were 5.3 percent and 3.63 percent respectively, it said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
N American billings down
North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment last month reported worldwide billings of US$2.09 billion, trade group SEMI said in a statement on Tuesday. The three-month average of worldwide billings was 6.5 percent lower than August’s US$2.37 billion, but up 1.8 percent from US$2.05 billion a year earlier, SEMI said. While equipment suppliers experienced a typical seasonal weakening last quarter, SEMI chief executive officer Ajit Manocha said he still expects investment activity to improve for the remainder of the year.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
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