Lu Hai Holding Corp (六暉), the world’s largest tire valve manufacturer, yesterday said that Indonesian demand for valve stems used in scooter and motorcycle tires has grown significantly this year, potentially helping to offset softening demand in China.
“We plan to raise the capacity of our Indonesian plant from 15 million valve stems to more than 20 million units per month in the first quarter of next year to meet growing demand,” chairman and president Simon Hsu (許廉凱) told an investors’ meeting in Taipei.
The plant, which mainly makes scooter and motorcycle valve stems, has run at capacity the entire year so far, he said.
Sales generated from the Indonesian market rose about 23.25 percent year-on-year in the first half, accounting for 27.56 percent of the company’s total sales of NT$1.34 billion (US$42.65 million) in the period, company data showed.
Sales also grew in other markets such as Vietnam and Brazil, while sales in China fell about 4.07 percent year-on-year.
In China, the company is investing between NT$1.2 billion and NT$1.5 billion in a new plant in Xiamen, which is expected to be completed in the second quarter of next year, Hsu said.
Lu Hai plans to relocate production lines for vehicles, heavy-duty truck valve stems and metalworking bases from its Kunshan plant to the Xiamen plant as requested by the Chinese authorities, he said.
In the first half of the year, the company’s net income soared 35.78 percent annually to NT$104.44 million, thanks to lower raw material prices and a better product portfolio, Lu Hai said.
Earnings per share climbed from NT$0.94 in the period last year to NT$1.27, and gross margin improved 2.13 percentage points to 21.79 percent due to a higher utilization rate, the company said.
Shipments of scooter and motorcycle valves, the company’s main products, grew 9.1 percent year-on-year in the first half, while other products, such as valve stems for bikes, heavy-duty trucks and tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS), also grew 0.26 to 4.91 percent, company data showed.
TPMS valve stem sales would see robust growth next year, as Lu Hai received orders from the world’s top two TPMS suppliers, Hsu said.
New orders would contribute to sales in the first half of next year after the company gains certification for the new products later this year, he said, citing the average selling prices for TPMS valves, which are at least three times higher than those of traditional valves.
Lu Hai shares closed flat from the previous day at NT$38.5 in Taipei trading yesterday.
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
MORE WEIGHT: The national weighting was raised in one index while holding steady in two others, while several companies rose or fell in prominence MSCI Inc, a global index provider, has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices and left the country’s weighting unchanged in two other indices after a regular index review. In a statement released on Thursday, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent. Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent. The latest index adjustments are to
RSS