AIRLINES
EVA postpones new routes
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) yesterday announced that it would delay the start of direct flights to and from Milan, Italy, which were originally scheduled to start on Feb. 18. Italy announced a ban on flights from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macau from Sunday last week to April 28 to prevent the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus. EVA said that it would also delay the start of services to Phuket, Thailand, which were to begin on April 2, due to concerns about the outbreak. The airline did not specify when it would begin such flights, but said that it would help affected travelers change or cancel their bookings.
CEMENT
TCC delays work resumption
Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥) yesterday said in a regulatory filing that some of its plants in China would delay the resumption of operations further from Sunday to Feb. 16, amid a coronavirus outbreak in the country. The move “might have some effects on TCC’s financial figures this year,” the company said. TCC said that it is monitoring developments on the outbreak and the health of all its employees, adding that it has adopted measures to minimize the effects of the outbreak on its operations.
SMARTPHONES
HTC consolidated sales drop
Smartphone maker HTC Corp’s (宏達電) consolidated sales last month fell 21.37 percent from a month earlier and 52.43 percent from a year earlier to NT$478.36 million (US$15.9 million), company data released yesterday showed. Analysts attributed the decline to lower shipments and fewer working days last month due to the Lunar New Year holiday, as well as growing competition in the global smartphone market.
TECHNOLOGY
Aten revenue slides annually
Aten International Co Ltd (宏正自動科技), which provides information technology infrastructure solutions, yesterday posted revenue of NT$378.73 million for last month, a 0.59 percent year-on-year decrease. Aten said that sales in its information technology infrastructure access management solutions segment increased 7 percent year-on-year and those in its audio-video business decreased 7 percent, while USB and other peripherals declined 3 percent.
NAVIGATION
Google unveils bike feature
Google Maps yesterday launched its bicycle navigation feature in Taiwan, making it the first nation in Asia to have access to the service. The new feature provides optimized routes for cyclists that take into account bike lanes and gradients, Google said, adding that it is available on computers and smartphones. Cyclists can also view a specialized version of Google Maps that highlights bike trails, streets with dedicated bicycle lanes and bicycle-friendly roads nationwide, it said.
MANUFACTURING
Growth reaches annual high
The local manufacturing sector had sluggish growth in December last year, with the index gauging the sector’s climate rising from a month earlier as trade talks between the US and China moved in a positive direction, along with a booming equity market, data released on Wednesday by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) showed. The composite index for the sector rose to its highest level for last year of 11.15 points, up 0.93 points from a revised 10.22 points a month earlier. The institute forecast that the sector would continue to see a mild recovery this year.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
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