ELECTRONICS
Yageo profit up 384 percent
Passive components maker Yageo Corp (國巨) yesterday posted net profit of NT$4.52 billion (US$145.78 million) for last month, up 384 percent from a year earlier, or earnings per share of NT$10.81. Revenue last month was up 242 percent annually to NT$10.25 billion, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Yageo released the figures after the Taiwan Stock Exchange requested that it disclose its latest results, as its stock price has been volatile in recent sessions. The shares closed up 2.69 percent at NT$324 yesterday in Taipei trading. They declined 17.77 percent for the week.
ENERGY
Chunghwa denies bad debt
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) on Thursday said it did not see any “abnormal” increases in bad debt from its new solar panel installation business, dismissing reports that bad debt would soar. The company said it had as of the second quarter accumulated NT$768 million in bad debt. The remarks came after Chinese-language online news outlet Stone Media reported that the company might have to book another NT$3 billion in bad debt for the third quarter from a solar panel installation project in Changhua County for Taiwan Power Co (台電) due to a scandal linked to its contractor.
INVESTMENT
EPZA approves HomeMash
The Export Processing Zone Administration (EPZA) on Thursday said that it has approved an investment by the first Taiwanese enterprise that is to return from China. HomeMash Wood Co Ltd (峰美木業) is to invest about NT$722.14 million in the Chungkang Export Processing Zone in Taichung and create 170 jobs, the EPZA said. The firm, which manufactures a type of vinyl wood flooring known as FirmFit, is to bring advanced production and management processes to Taiwan, it said. EPZA Deputy Director-General Chao Chien-min (趙建民) said that many Taiwanese businesses have applied for approval to invest in Taiwan’s export processing zones, but there is little space left for new factories.
ECONOMY
Trade fears drive uncertainty
Manufacturing sentiment weakened last month as there was no sign that the US-China trade dispute would be resolved soon, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) said on Thursday. The composite index for the manufacturing sector fell 4.49 points from a month earlier to 93.76, the lowest level since February 2016, the institute said. Sentiment in the service sector also weakened due to volatility in equity markets amid concerns over global trade issues, it said. The composite index for the service sector fell 2.38 points from a month earlier to 95.62, the lowest since April, it added.
APPLIANCES
V3 Group IPO withdrawn
Singaporean entrepreneur and tycoon Ron Sim (沈財福) has “aborted” plans to list V3 Group Ltd in Hong Kong amid intense volatility and weakness in the global stock market. Sim, who created Asia’s largest maker of massage chairs, has shelved plans for an initial public offering (IPO) after letting the application lapse at the end of June, he said by telephone. The entrepreneur in 2016 took Osim International Ltd (傲勝國際) private in a S$326.7 million (US$236.1 million) buyout. V3 Group comprises the Osim business and other consumer product units.
Napoleon Osorio is proud of being the first taxi driver to have accepted payment in bitcoin in the first country in the world to make the cryptocurrency legal tender: El Salvador. He credits Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s decision to bank on bitcoin three years ago with changing his life. “Before I was unemployed... And now I have my own business,” said the 39-year-old businessman, who uses an app to charge for rides in bitcoin and now runs his own car rental company. Three years ago the leader of the Central American nation took a huge gamble when he put bitcoin
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
PARTNERSHIPS: TSMC said it has been working with multiple memorychip makers for more than two years to provide a full spectrum of solutions to address AI demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it has been collaborating with multiple memorychip makers in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications for more than two years, refuting South Korean media report's about an unprecedented partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. As Samsung is competing with TSMC for a bigger foundry business, any cooperation between the two technology heavyweights would catch the eyes of investors and experts in the semiconductor industry. “We have been working with memory partners, including Micron, Samsung Memory and SK Hynix, on HBM solutions for more than two years, aiming to advance 3D integrated circuit
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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