FINANCE
AEON leaving Taiwan
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday confirmed that AEON Credit Card (Taiwan) Co Ltd (台灣永旺信用卡) began winding down its business in December last year. By June 1, about 50,000 credit cards issued by the local unit of the Japanese retail giant would be taken out of circulation, it said. After arriving in 2002, the company lacked the required scale to be profitable, the commission said.
MANUFACTURING
Giant upbeat on year ahead
Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) is upbeat about its sales this year as bicycle demand recovers in China while demand for electric bicycles continues to grow steadily, chairwoman Bonnie Tu (杜綉珍) said at a trade show in Taipei yesterday. The company last year reported that net income rose 39.4 percent annually to NT$2.86 billion (US$92.69 million), or earnings per share of NT$7.64, while sales rose 9.1 percent annually to NT$60.24 billion. Sales of electric bicycles are expected to grow 30 percent this year and contribute up to 25 percent of total sales this year, up from last year’s 19 percent, Giant said. The company said it is planning to spend about NT$5 billion this year on overhauling its headquarters in Taichung and expanding its logistics and manufacturing capabilities in Taiwan.
ENTERTAINMENT
VHQ plans NT$7 payout
Singapore-based visual effects and post-production company VHQ Media Holdings Ltd yesterday announced plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$7 per share, representing a yield of 4.4 percent. The Taipei Exchange-listed company, whose customers include Netflix Inc and Facebook Inc, last year reported net income of NT$505 million last year — a record high. Post-production revenue also rose 23 percent annually to NT$1.6 billion, with gross margin reaching 56 percent, besting 2017’s showing by 3 percentage points. The company said that it is collaborating with Netflix on an Asian-led science fiction series, which would begin contributing to its top line next quarter.
ENERGY
UREC bests battling peers
United Renewable Energy Co (UREC, 聯合再生能源) yesterday reported that it ended last quarter NT$1.43 billion in the black, besting its peers, which reported massive losses, and bucking a persistent downturn in the solar power sector. Revenue last quarter rose 76.47 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$4.83 billion, the company said. However, it ended last year with a net loss of NT$468 million — 88.7 percent less than a year earlier. UREC was formed last year after solar cell makers Neo Solar Power Energy Corp (新日光能源), Gintech Energy Corp (昱晶能源) and Solartech Energy Corp (昇陽光電) merged.
COMPUTERS
Clevo reports income spike
Computer maker Clevo Co (藍天電腦) yesterday reported that net income last year surged 102 percent annually to NT$1.46 billion, while sales dipped 5 percent annually to NT$19.8 billion. Earnings per share were NT$2.32 — a four-year record. Laptop shipments last year rose 0.8 percent to 128.2 million units, despite challenges because of key component shortages. The company said that as Intel’s 14-nanometer fabrication stabilizes, laptop shipments should rise to 164 million units this year. Shipments of gaming desktop computers and laptops are expected to reach 9.8 million units this year, up from 8.5 million units last year and 4.7 million in 2016, the firm said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks
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