ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai posts revenue gain
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler, yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$589.73 billion (US$19.14 billion) for last month, up 21.48 percent annually. From January to last month, cumulative revenue totaled NT$4.08 trillion, an increase of 17.7 percent from NT$3.46 trillion in the same period last year, Hon Hai said in a statement. Wistron Corp (緯創), another iPhone assembler, reported that revenue last month increased 2.06 percent annually to NT$91.64 billion and cumulative revenue in the first 10 months of the year expanded 9.31 percent to NT$725.81 billion annually.
MANUFACTURING
Gaming boosts Sun Max
Industrial cooling fan maker Sun Max Tech Ltd (動力) yesterday reported that sales last month grew 10.39 percent year-on-year to NT$131.68 million, driven by gaming-related demand after its clients launched graphics cards using Nvidia Corp’s Turing graphics processing chips. Cumulative sales in the first 10 months of the year increased 9.61 percent from the same period last year to NT$1.08 billion, the company said. Sun Max’s cooling fan business focuses on the gaming segment, with graphics card cooling kits and other gaming-related products for PCs accounting for more than 80 percent of overall sales.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Yummy Town profit falls
Yummy Town Holdings Corp (雅茗天地集團), which operates restaurant and tea brands globally, yesterday reported that net income attributable to its parent company was NT$37.19 million last quarter, down from NT$48.01 million in the same quarter last year. Earnings per share fell from NT$1.56 to NT$1.11 over the period, the company said in a statement. Consolidated sales grew 6.27 percent to NT$582.91 million, but higher operating expenses caused gross margin to drop by 1.06 percentage points to 52.82 percent and operating margin to fall by 3.22 percentage points to 8.01 percent. Cumulative sales in the first 10 months grew 10 percent to NT$1.8 billion.
SOFTWARE
Gamania sales grow 73%
Online game publisher Gamania Digital Entertainment Co (遊戲橘子) yesterday reported consolidated sales of NT$870 million for last month, up 73 percent year-on-year, on the persistent contribution from its popular game Lineage M. In the first 10 months of the year, cumulative sales increased 96 percent annually to NT$12.29 billion, the company said. Third-quarter net profit was NT$530 million, with earnings per share of NT$3.11, a quarterly high, and total net profit for the first three quarters hit NT$1.46 billion, up 40.51 percent annually, with earnings per share of NT$8.59.
TEXTILES
Eclat profit helped by scale
Textile and garment manufacturer Eclat Textile Co (儒鴻) on Thursday posted earnings per share of NT$11.43 for the first three quarters this year, up from NT$11.2 for all of last year. The company attributed its earnings growth to the optimization of its product mix and increased economies of scale. Net profit was NT$1.04 billion last quarter, up 12.39 percent annually, with total net profit in the first three quarters rising 58.18 percent annually to NT$3.14 billion. Eclat expects business to pick up further and peak this quarter due to Christmas sales and increased shipments to sportswear brands. In the first 10 months of the year, consolidated sales grew 16.77 percent annually to NT$22.72 billion, it said.
Japanese technology giant Softbank Group Corp said Tuesday it has sold its stake in Nvidia Corp, raising US$5.8 billion to pour into other investments. It also reported its profit nearly tripled in the first half of this fiscal year from a year earlier. Tokyo-based Softbank said it sold the stake in Silicon Vally-based Nvidia last month, a move that reflects its shift in focus to OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. Softbank reported its profit in the April-to-September period soared to about 2.5 trillion yen (about US$13 billion). Its sales for the six month period rose 7.7 percent year-on-year
CRESTING WAVE: Companies are still buying in, but the shivers in the market could be the first signs that the AI wave has peaked and the collapse is upon the world Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported a new monthly record of NT$367.47 billion (US$11.85 billion) in consolidated sales for last month thanks to global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Last month’s figure represented 16.9 percent annual growth, the slowest pace since February last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 11 percent. Cumulative sales in the first 10 months of the year grew 33.8 percent year-on-year to NT$3.13 trillion, a record for the same period in the company’s history. However, the slowing growth in monthly sales last month highlights uncertainty over the sustainability of the AI boom even as
AI BOOST: Next year, the cloud and networking product business is expected to remain a key revenue pillar for the company, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu said Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted its best third-quarter profit in the company’s history, backed by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Net profit expanded 17 percent annually to NT$57.67 billion (US$1.86 billion) from NT$44.36 billion, the company said. On a quarterly basis, net profit soared 30 percent from NT$44.36 billion, it said. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said earnings per share expanded to NT$4.15 from NT$3.55 a year earlier and NT$3.19 in the second quarter. Gross margin improved to 6.35 percent,
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
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