AUTO PARTS
Tong Yang profit falls 37%
Citing a weak global automotive market, Tong Yang Industry Co (東陽實業) yesterday reported that first-quarter pretax income declined 37 percent annually to NT$383 million (US$12.75 million), its lowest level in 19 quarters. Earnings per share were NT$0.73, it said. The company supplies bumpers, grilles and fenders to global brands through the aftermarket channel or as an original equipment manufacturer. Tong Yang said it would continue developing water-based coating and electroplating products to enhance added value, while investing in lightweight auto products.
RETAIL
Pinkoi sales decline 30%
Taipei-based e-commerce start-up Pinkoi.com (果翼科技) yesterday said that online sales fell 30 percent last month compared with February due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company, which specializes in original design goods and holds fairs, said that offline sales also fell by more than 50 percent sequentially last quarter. It did not disclose exact sales figures. With more than 16,000 individual brands on its Web site, Pinkoi said it would lower its commissions for orders under US$10, while investing more than US$660,000 in advertising this quarter. The company is launching various workshops and classes as it seeks to boost offline sales for designers.
ELECTRONICS
Silitech reports losses
Handset keypad supplier Silitech Technology Corp (閎暉) yesterday posted net losses of NT$373 million for last month, including NT$363 million in impairment losses and layoff expenses from its Shenzhen-based Xurong plant. Losses per share were NT$6.22, the company said in a regulatory filing. Silitech released the results at the request of the regulator due to an unusual spike in its share price. Its shares closed unchanged at NT$26.7 in Taipei trading yesteday. They have surged 33.83 percent in the past seven sessions, compared with the TAIEX’s 3.06 percent rise over the same period.
MANUFACTURING
Yageo to list GDRs
Yageo Corp is to list global depositary receipts (GDRs) in Luxembourg next week to raise funds to boost its production capacity and repay debts, it said yesterday. Yageo, which makes chip resistors, inductors and multilayer ceramic capacitors, said in a statement that it would issue 12.68 million GDRs on Monday next week, each of which represents five Yageo common shares. The GDRs have been priced at US$51.25 per unit, translating to NT$308.1 per common share, an 8.84 percent discount on Yageo’s closing price of NT$338 on Tuesday. Based on the pricing, Yageo is expected to raise about US$650 million, it said.
BANKING
Banks mull requiring masks
Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) yesterday said that the Bankers Association of the Republic of China (銀行公會) had proposed requiring visitors to bank branches to wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The plan requires approval from the Central Epidemic Command Center, Koo said at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee. Most banks take people’s temperature at bank entrances. Koo said the commission would suggest the plan to the center tomorrow and start implementing it at more than 3,000 bank branches next week at the earliest.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
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