AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) yesterday posted smaller quarterly losses as higher TV panel prices helped cushion the effect of a slow season and supply chain disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While it was the fifth consecutive quarter that the company ended up in the red, net losses of NT$4.99 billion (US$167.44 million) last quarter were significantly smaller than losses of NT$8.83 billion in the previous quarter and NT$3.69 billion a year earlier.
The pandemic significantly impacted whole supply chains, as anti-virus measures and transportation restrictions caused a labor shortage and component supply crunch in the first quarter, AUO said, adding that inventories jumped 18.8 percent sequentially to NT$27.88 billion last quarter.
Average selling prices dropped 0.67 percent to US$296 per square meter last quarter from US$298 a quarter earlier, it said.
However, the company expects the pandemic to be a boon this quarter, as remote learning, work-from-home and play-at-home trends are spurring demand for flat panels used in laptops, PC monitors and medical devices.
As a result, large-sized panel shipments are forecast to grow 20 percent sequentially this quarter, while average selling prices are expected to drop about 5 percent, it said.
“We saw some positive impact from the pandemic. Because of stay-at-home, work-from-home and e-schooling trends, we saw significant increases in demand for our information technology [IT] products,” AUO chairman Paul Peng (彭双浪) told investors.
To cope with rising demand for advanced IT panels, AUO is to roll out new 4K mini-LED panels used in 27-inch and 32-inch laptops next quarter, targeting content creators and PC game players.
Overall, “second-quarter revenue will be better than the first quarter,” Peng said.
AUO posted revenue of NT$53.69 billion last quarter, down 13.42 percent quarterly and 19.51 percent annually.
Due to the shutdown of TV assembly lines in Mexico and other parts of the world due to coronavirus containment measures, AUO said it holds a “conservative” view about TV panel shipments this quarter.
Supply chain disruptions and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games are affecting demand for TV panels, it said.
Shipments of small-sized panels are expected to drop a low-single-digit percentage this quarter amid dwindling demand for displays used in smartphones and automobiles, AUO said.
Business visibility for the second half of this year is unclear as the pandemic is taking a toll on the global economy and job market, and dampening consumer confidence, Peng said.
On the plus side, the travel bans would limit panel supply from new fabs and should help improve the industry’s supply-and-demand dynamics, he said.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
RSS