ELECTRONICS
Largan revenue falls 28.5%
Largan Precision Co (大立光), a camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday posted NT$4 billion (US$129.84 million) in revenue for last month, the lowest level in seven months, amid lackluster iPhone sales. The figure — a decline of 28.5 percent from NT$5.61 billion a year earlier and of 23.08 percent from NT$5.2 billion in October, according to a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange — bodes ill for the company’s revenue this quarter, which is usually a strong period. The weakness is expected to continue this quarter, Largan said, adding that visibility for next month is unclear. So far this year, revenue has dropped 3.17 percent to NT$46.72 billion, from NT$48.25 billion in the same period last year, company data showed.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Reserves rise US$1.2 billion
The nation’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to US$461.38 billion as of the end of last month, an increase of US$1.2 billion from a month earlier, the central bank said yesterday. It attributed the increase to returns from its foreign exchange reserves management. Foreign portfolio managers held US$344.2 billion of New Taiwan dollar-denominated securities and deposits, or 75 percent of foreign exchange reserves, the bank said.
CHIPMAKERS
Global initiates takeover bid
Analog chipmaker Global Mixed-mode Technology Inc (致新) yesterday said that it plans to acquire a stake of between 5 percent and 90.07 percent in local peer Advanced Analog Technology Inc (台灣類比) for up to NT$1.4 billion to expand operational scale. Global has offered to buy Advanced Analog shares at NT$23 each, representing a premium of 36.9 percent compared with Advanced Analog’s closing price yesterday of NT$16.8. The takeover bid is to start tomorrow and end on Jan. 10, Global said in a filing with the stock exchange, adding that the bid could be extend by 50 days if needed.
INSURANCE
FSC to amend insurance law
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said that it would amend the Insurance Act (保險法) to allow compensation payouts from insurance companies after the death of an insured person younger than 15, but added that it first needs to find a solution to reduce moral hazard. The families of five people who died in a Puyuma Express train derailment on Oct. 21 cannot receive compensation, because current regulations do not allow payouts for insured people younger than 15. To prevent abuse, the regulations allow such families to receive only the insurance fees they had previously paid, with interest.
TRADE
Dispute could last decade
A US-China trade war might drag on for up to 10 more years, Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) said on Tuesday, warning of fundamental changes to export markets. Despite moves toward a possible detente, the trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies could last five to 10 years, the Economic Daily News quoted Gou as telling business leaders at a summit in Xiamen, China. The US sees China as a strategic rival and will build barriers to prevent it from acquiring key technologies and components, forcing Beijing to change the way it produces and develops technology, he was quoted as saying, adding that the global supply chain would have to restructure to be stronger and more flexible.
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
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
SK Hynix Inc warned of increased volatility in the second half of this year despite resilient demand for artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips from big tech providers, reflecting the uncertainty surrounding US tariffs. The company reported a better-than-projected 158 percent jump in March-quarter operating income, propelled in part by stockpiling ahead of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. SK Hynix stuck with a forecast for a doubling in demand for the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) essential to Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, which in turn drive giant data centers built by the likes of Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc. That SK Hynix is maintaining its
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