ELECTRONICS
CHPT hits record revenue
Chunghwa Precision Test Tech Co (CHPT, 中華精測) yesterday reported revenue of NT$257.16 million (US$8.36 million) for last month, the highest for the month of November in the company’s history and raising the possibility that the firm could post record-high revenue for the fourth quarter. Last month’s figure grew 3.68 percent from October and represented an increase of 80.9 percent from the same month a year earlier, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The firm attributed the strong annual growth to robust demand for its probe card testing services along with the launch of new handset chips by semiconductor makers. Aggregated revenue in the first 11 months of the year totaled NT$3.06 billion, up 4.09 percent from NT$2.94 billion last year.
KEYPAD MAKERS
Ichia revenue down 9.65%
Handset keypad maker Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$596.18 million for last month, down 20.1 percent from October and falling 9.65 percent from a year earlier. Revenue for the first 11 months of this year totaled NT$6.68 billion, up 1.46 percent annually from NT$6.58 billion, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Sales generated from flexible printed circuit integrated components reached NT$430 million last month, accounting for 72 percent of total sales, with the remainder coming from mechanical integrated components, Ichia said.
ELECTRONICS
Concord raises cash to invest
Concord Industries Ltd (華新特殊鋼), a subsidiary of power cable manufacturer Walsin Lihwa Corp (華新麗華), has decided to raise NT$82 million in fresh funds to invest in Yantai Walsin Stainless Steel Co (煙台華新不銹鋼). Concord’s board of directors yesterday approved the investment plan by issuing new shares, with the capital increase wholly injected by the parent company, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
HOSPITALITY
FPG plans lakeside hotel
Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, is planning to build a hotel at the site of Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp’s (台灣化學纖維) idle plant near Longtan Lake in Yilan County, as the group works to revitalize its assets. Sandy Wang (王瑞瑜), an FPG management team member and chairwoman of Formosa Biomedical Technology Co (台塑生醫), at the group’s sports day on Sunday said beautiful scenery and hot springs are expected to attract guests to the hotel. The group is expected to finalize the plan — its first foray into the tourism sector — by next year.
INSURANCE
Shinkong’s S&P rating raised
S&P Global Ratings has raised its long-term financial strength and issuer credit ratings for Shinkong Insurance Co Ltd (新光產險) to “A” from “A-” on an improved financial risk profile, adding that the company is likely to maintain strong capitalization and a prudent hedging policy, as well as focusing on quality investments with good credit over the next two years. “The upgrade reflects our view that Shinkong Insurance has effectively controlled its foreign-exchange risk exposure at a manageable level,” S&P credit analyst Serene Hsieh (謝雅瑛) said in a statement on Nov. 23. “This has led us to revise upward our assessment of the insurer’s overall financial risk profile from strong to very strong.”
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) forecast that its wafer shipments this quarter would grow up to 7 percent sequentially and the factory utilization rate would rise to 75 percent, indicating that customers did not alter their ordering behavior due to the US President Donald Trump’s capricious US tariff policies. However, the uncertainty about US tariffs has weighed on the chipmaker’s business visibility for the second half of this year, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said at an online earnings conference yesterday. “Although the escalating trade tensions and global tariff policies have increased uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, we have not
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