MANUFACTURING
Optimax to sell factories
Optimax Technology Corp (力特光電), a supplier of polarizing films that are a central component of LCD technology, yesterday said that its board of directors has agreed to sell factories and equipment in the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) for NT$3.65 billion (US$123.56 million). Optimax said it expects to book an asset disposal gain of NT$650 million after deducting expenses and plans to use the proceeds to repay bank loans. As of June 30, Optimax had about NT$6.2 billion in debts with 18 banks, a company financial statement showed.
NETWORKING
Accton results miss mark
Communications solutions provider Accton Technology Corp (智邦科技) yesterday reported weaker-than-expected financial results for the second quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Net profit decreased 16 percent year-on-year to NT$1.16 billion, or earnings per share (EPS) of NT$2.07, Accton said in a statement. Revenue declined 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$12.63 billion last quarter. In the first half of the year, net profit rose 2.1 percent annually to NT$2.19 billion, or EPS of NT$3.93, while revenue fell 2.3 percent to NT$24.35 billion. The company also approved the appointment of Melody Chiang (江映慧) and Jackal Lee (李訓德) as senior vice presidents, effective immediately.
MANUFACTURING
Chelic reports NT$47m profit
Pneumatic parts maker Taiwan Chelic Corp Ltd (台灣氣立) yesterday reported better-than-expected net profit of NT$47.26 million for the second quarter, up 335.68 percent from a year earlier, or EPS of NT$0.71. Revenue increased 29.47 percent to NT$459 million, the company said in a statement. Gross margin improved to 35 percent last quarter, thanks to orders related to 5G devices, consumer electronics, automation equipment, machine tools and welding facilities, it said. Business in the second half of the year would be better than the first half on the back of strong demand for industrial automation products, the company said.
INTERNET
Mozilla to lay off workers
Mozilla Corp (MoCo), the developer of the Firefox Internet browser, is to lay off 250 people and restructure its organization, as the pandemic has affected its business. In a statement to employees, Mozilla chief executive officer Mitchell Baker said that the pandemic significantly affected the firm’s revenue and prompted the need to reduce the size of its workforce. “We are reducing the size of the MoCo workforce by approximately 250 roles, including closing our current operations in Taipei, Taiwan. Another 60 or so people will change teams,” Baker said.
FOOTWEAR
BASF opens center
German chemical firm BASF SE on Tuesday opened its first global Footwear Innovation Center in Taiwan, with the aim of allowing brands to optimize manufacturing processes and improve efficiency. The 650m2 center in Changhua County is in a compound belonging to BASF’s strategic partner Longterm Concept (隆鼎). BASF said in a news release that one of the goals of the center is to “bring footwear professionals, manufacturers and designers together to cocreate new-generation footwear.” The center would also feature a slew of interactive footwear exhibits and house a biomechanics lab for the development of new footwear solutions, it said.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
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