Inventec Corp (英業達) reported that revenue last month increased 6.24 percent year-on-year to NT$47.71 billion (US$1.53 billion) from NT$44.91 billion a year earlier, thanks to rush orders before the G20 summit in Japan, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday on condition of anonymity.
“Some clients were worried that new US tariffs would take effect after the G20 [summit],” she said, referring to US President Donald Trump’s earlier threat of imposing a 25 percent surtax on US$300 billion of Chinese goods, including mobile phones and laptops.
“We shipped up to 1.9 million laptops last month,” the official said, adding that shipments would likely slow this quarter, as Trump agreed to halt the implementation of new tariffs.
As Intel Corp is making up for a shortage of central processing units, which plagued the PC industry in the first half of this year, Inventec said that it expects shipments to improve by next month.
“Shipments of servers for our enterprise clients will remain the same as last quarter,” she said.
The company expects single-digit percentage sales growth for smart devices in the second half of this year, she added.
Inventec is an original design manufacturer for various electronics and computers. It also serves as a key assembler of Apple Inc’s AirPods.
Last month, Inventec’s board of directors approved a plan to invest US$54.81 million by acquiring a 10 percent stake in US-based ZT Group International Inc, which provides hyperscale computer and storage solutions.
Company data showed that cumulative revenue from January to last month reached NT$242.67 billion, up 4.73 percent from NT$231.71 billion for the same period last year.
Separately, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) reported that revenue last month fell 9.6 percent to NT$30.8 billion from NT$34.07 billion a year earlier, bringing overall second-quarter revenue to NT$74.2 billion, an annual decline of 8.8 percent.
The company attributed the lackluster performance to weakening demand in developing markets, brought on by the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China.
However, the company retains a positive outlook for the long term and plans to adjust its product portfolio in an effort to adapt to market changes, Asustek said in a statement.
Cumulative revenue in the first six months dropped 7.95 percent annually to NT$160.1 billion.
CHIP WAR: Tariffs on Taiwanese chips would prompt companies to move their factories, but not necessarily to the US, unleashing a ‘global cross-sector tariff war’ US President Donald Trump would “shoot himself in the foot” if he follows through on his recent pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese and other foreign semiconductors entering the US, analysts said. Trump’s plans to raise tariffs on chips manufactured in Taiwan to as high as 100 percent would backfire, macroeconomist Henry Wu (吳嘉隆) said. He would “shoot himself in the foot,” Wu said on Saturday, as such economic measures would lead Taiwanese chip suppliers to pass on additional costs to their US clients and consumers, and ultimately cause another wave of inflation. Trump has claimed that Taiwan took up to
SUPPORT: The government said it would help firms deal with supply disruptions, after Trump signed orders imposing tariffs of 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico The government pledged to help companies with operations in Mexico, such as iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), shift production lines and investment if needed to deal with higher US tariffs. The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday announced measures to help local firms cope with the US tariff increases on Canada, Mexico, China and other potential areas. The ministry said that it would establish an investment and trade service center in the US to help Taiwanese firms assess the investment environment in different US states, plan supply chain relocation strategies and
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such