AUTOMAKERS
Sanyang upbeat on sales
Automobile and motorcycle manufacturer Sanyang Motor Co Ltd (三陽工業) yesterday said that it is upbeat about sales this year and that it would add four Hyundai Motor Co cars to its offerings. Sales could increase 15 percent this year, Sanyang chairman Wu Chin-yuan (吳清源) said. Regarding Taiwan’s highly saturated car and motorcycle market, Wu said that the company would focus on customer service and strive to cut red tape to import the South Korean automaker’s latest models within a year of their global launches. Wu said that he is optimistic about customers’ reception of Hyundai’s newly revised sports utility vehicles.
AVIATION
Starlux hiring pilots
Starlux Airlines (星宇航空) yesterday said that it would hire 30 to 40 pilots who hold Republic of China citizenship. Qualified candidates for captain must have logged 3,500 flight hours and copilot candidates must have 1,000 flight hours. The newly established airline is set to take delivery of its first Airbus A321neo in October and start using A350 widebody aircraft in 2021. The airline said it would recruit foreign pilots at a later date.
TECHNOLOGY
GeneReach sales skyrocket
GeneReach Biotechnology Corp (瑞基海洋), which makes disease detection devices and reagents for pets, livestock and marine animals, yesterday said that sales last month rose 126 percent annually to NT$26.42 million (US$856,485). Sales in the first two months of this year rose 136 percent annually to NT$61.66 million, it said. The company attributed the gain to a surge in demand for pet testing and African swine fever testing in China, while demand has also risen across other neighboring markets.
BANKING
TBB could set payout record
State-run Taiwan Business Bank (TBB, 台灣企銀) could distribute its highest dividend payout in nearly two decades, following a significant increase in earnings last year. The payout could be NT$0.8 to NT$0.95 per share, better than the NT$0.668 it paid a year earlier. Any payout above NT$0.8 would be the highest since 2000, when it paid NT$1.0154 per share, company data showed. The lender last year saw net income rise 58.25 percent annually to NT$9.17 billion and earnings per share were NT$1.19, both record highs.
LOGISTICS
UPS begins U.S. Saturday pickup
United Parcel Service (UPS) yesterday said that Taiwan is on its list of 57 key markets for a newly launched Saturday pickup service for international shipments. The company is targeting imports from the US, which totaled US$28.7 billion in the first 10 months of last year. Expedited transit time from the new service would provide an opportunity for manufacturing production lines to start earlier and retailers to restock faster, UPS Taiwan managing director Sam Hung (洪毅) said.
CAMERA LENSES
Largan ends annual declines
Smartphone lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) yesterday said that sales last month fell 24 percent monthly and rose 14 percent annually to NT$2.53 billion, ending four months of annual declines. Sales in the first two months of this year totaled NT$5.89 billion, up 3 percent from a year earlier. Largan’s high-end 20 megapixel lenses accounted for 20 to 30 percent of sales and those above 10 megapixels made up 50 to 60 percent of sales, while 8 megapixel lenses contributed 10 to 20 percent.
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
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
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