ELECTRONICS
Lite-On approves dividend
Component supplier Lite-On Technology Corp’s (光寶科技) shareholders on Friday approved a NT$2.92 (US$0.094) per share cash dividend, for an 85.38 percent payout ratio on earnings per share of NT$85.38 for last year. Lite-On said it has streamlined and will focus on consistent profitability, steadier operations and higher returns on equity. The company reported a revenue drop of 19.98 percent to NT$14.8 billion for last month. Cumulative revenue in the first five months declined by 16.82 percent to NT$69.52 billion.
SEMICONDUCTORS
N America still volatile
North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted US$2.06 billion in worldwide billings last month, according to last month’s Equipment Market Data Subscription report published by international trade group SEMI on Thursday. The billings figure was 7.4 percent higher than the April level of US$1.92 billion, but was 23.6 percent less than the US$2.69 billion reported a year earlier. SEMI president and CEO Ajit Manocha said in a statement that market volatility continues due to the macroeconomic environment.
LABOR
Taiwan Coop wages up
State-run Taiwan Cooperative Bank (TCB, 合庫銀行) has raised wages by 4.53 percent on average since April. Lei Chung-dar (雷仲達), chairman of parent Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co (合庫金控), said wage hikes for entry-level employees were even higher, averaging 6.67 percent. The bank has a workforce of more than 8,000 and posted a record-high net profit of NT$14.77 billion for last year, up from NT$12.91 billion a year earlier. Shareholders on Friday approved a cash dividend of NT$1.05 per share based on earnings per share of NT$1.24 for last year.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES? The economics ministry said that political factors should not affect supply chains linking global satellite firms and Taiwanese manufacturers Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) asked Taiwanese suppliers to transfer manufacturing out of Taiwan, leading to some relocating portions of their supply chain, according to sources employed by and close to the equipment makers and corporate documents. A source at a company that is one of the numerous subcontractors that provide components for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet products said that SpaceX asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan because of geopolitical risks, pushing at least one to move production to Vietnam. A second source who collaborates with Taiwanese satellite component makers in the nation said that suppliers were directly
Top Taiwanese officials yesterday moved to ease concern about the potential fallout of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, making a case that the technology restrictions promised by the former US president against China would outweigh the risks to the island. The prospect of Trump’s victory in this week’s election is a worry for Taipei given the Republican nominee in the past cast doubt over the US commitment to defend it from Beijing. But other policies championed by Trump toward China hold some appeal for Taiwan. National Development Council Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) described the proposed technology curbs as potentially having
EXPORT CONTROLS: US lawmakers have grown more concerned that the US Department of Commerce might not be aggressively enforcing its chip restrictions The US on Friday said it imposed a US$500,000 penalty on New York-based GlobalFoundries Inc, the world’s third-largest contract chipmaker, for shipping chips without authorization to an affiliate of blacklisted Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯). The US Department of Commerce in a statement said GlobalFoundries sent 74 shipments worth US$17.1 million to SJ Semiconductor Corp (盛合晶微半導體), an affiliate of SMIC, without seeking a license. Both SMIC and SJ Semiconductor were added to the department’s trade restriction Entity List in 2020 over SMIC’s alleged ties to the Chinese military-industrial complex. SMIC has denied wrongdoing. Exports to firms on the list