E-PAPER
E Ink revenue rises
E Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技), the world’s largest supplier of e-paper displays for e-readers and luggage tags, yesterday posted NT$1.76 billion (US$57.48 million) in revenue for last month, up 98 percent from NT$889 million in August and an annual increase of 35.38 percent from NT$1.3 billion, a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed. In the first nine months of this year, E Ink reported that aggregated revenue declined 2.93 percent annually to NT$10.17 billion from NT$10.48 billion in the same period last year. That bodes well for the firm to lift its full-year revenue forecast for this year from an earlier estimate of a 10 percent yearly reduction, analysts said.
CASINGS
Catcher reports profit fall
Catcher Technology Co (可成), a supplier of metal casings to Apple Inc, yesterday said that pretax profit dropped 3.12 percent quarterly to NT$5.9 billion last quarter, compared with pretax profit of NT$6.09 billion. Revenue surged 73 percent to NT$27.83 billion, compared with NT$16.08 billion in the second quarter, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2017. The company said gross margin last quarter was the weakest in six years at 23.1 percent, little changed from the previous quarter. In the first nine months, pretax profit sank 51.6 percent to NT$15.12 billion from NT$31.24 billion a year earlier, while revenue dropped 9.9 percent to NT$59.7 billion from NT$66.25 billion.
TECHNOLOGY
Advantech opens center
Advantech Co Ltd (研華) yesterday launched a new service center in Fukuoka, Japan, following its acquisition in February of Omron Nohgata, a subsidiary of Omron Corp. In addition, a new configure-to-order-services plant would enable the company to offer custom assembly of equipment ranging from industrial-grade small-edge, desktop, panel and rack-mounted PCs to servers, Advantech Technologies Japan president Mike Koike said in a statement. The plant would also provide custom assembly of graphics processing unit cards, factory automation cards and industrial applications, as well as other input/output cards related to artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies, Advantech Technologies Japan said.
STEELMAKERS
CSC revenue drops
China Steel Co (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s sole steel mill, yesterday said that revenue last month totaled NT$28.93 billion, its lowest monthly revenue in eight months amid sliding steel prices worldwide and falling demand. The Kaohsiung-based company said it did not see any signs of a rebound this quarter. On an annual basis, revenue fell 14.75 percent from NT$33.94 billion, a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed. In the first nine months of the year, China Steel’s cumulative revenue dropped 4.94 percent to NT$281.81 billion from NT$296.44 percent in the same period last year.
ENERGY
Wind project work advances
Assembly of the first underwater pin piles for offshore wind turbines at the Port of Taipei in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里) was completed on Saturday. Lai Wen-hsiang (賴文祥), chairman of Century Iron & Steel Industrial Co (世紀鋼構), which is contracted to do the work, said the work has become a huge business internationally in the past few years. Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany are manufacturing the products amid growing demand, Lai said. Against that backdrop, Century Iron has invested NT$6 billion in an assembly plant at the port, he said.
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
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares