SEMICONDUCTORS
TSMC hiring engineers
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that it has started a recruitment campaign in preparation for a planned wafer fab in the US. It has posted information on LinkedIn about the new openings, mostly for engineers, such as research and development engineers, process integration engineers, module process engineers, module equipment engineers, facility mechanical engineers and equipment automation software engineers, the firm said. TSMC said new hires would initially work in Taipei and some would be dispatched to the wafer fab it plans to build in Arizona.
SHOPPING CENTERS
T.S. Mall to start test run
T.S. Mall (南紡購物中心) yesterday said that it is planning to begin the trial run of its new A2 shopping center in Tainan on Dec. 25. The shopping center has a total business area of about 8,000m2 spread over nine floors above ground and two underground, the company said. The shopping center would focus on catering and entertainment, T.S. Mall said. Together with the existing A1 shopping center, T.S. Mall would become Tainan’s largest shopping mall operator, it said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
GlobalWafers optimistic
GlobalWafers Inc (環球晶圓), the third-largest silicon wafer supplier in the world, yesterday said that the long-term development of semiconductor industry remains promising, despite short-term challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, unfavorable foreign exchange rates and political uncertainties around the world. The firm said its optimism is based on the continued launch of new technology products and policy support by governments for the post-pandemic period. GlobalWafers reported net income of NT$3.39 billion (US$117.22 million) for last quarter, down 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter, but up 1.8 percent year-on-year. Earnings per share were NT$7.78. In the first three quarters, combined net income fell 9.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$9.67 billion, or earnings per share of NT$22.21.
MACHINERY
Hiwin net income soars
Linear-motion component supplier Hiwin Technologies Co (上銀科技) yesterday reported net income of NT$926 million for last quarter, up 63.4 percent from the previous quarter and the highest in eight quarters, with earnings per share of NT$2.91. The firm’s revenue last quarter grew 4.3 percent from the previous quarter to NT$5.87 billion and operating margin improved by 0.55 percentage points to 28.42 percent. However, operating margin dropped 0.96 percentage points to 11.26 percent due to an increase in operating expenses, the firm said in a filing with the stock exchange. For the first three quarters of this year, combined net income fell 25.4 percent year-on-year to NT$1.36 billion, translating into earnings per share of NT$4.27.
MANUFACTURING
CFTC revenue rises 10%
China Fineblanking Technology Co (CFTC, 和勤精機), a manufacturer of metal stamping products, yesterday reported that revenue last month increased from a year earlier due to a steady recovery in the Chinese auto market. Consolidated revenue grew 10.04 percent to NT$210 million last month, the company said in a statement. Cumulative revenue in the first 10 months expanded 9.65 percent to NT$1.82 billion, it said. As production and sales in China’s auto market grow, and orders from clients continue to rise, it expects revenue for this quarter to be the highest for this year, the company said.
RECORD BUDGET: TSMC does plan to raise its proposed capital expenditure a lot, and could benefit if Intel outsources more of its production to foundries, analysts said Intel Corp’s earnings conference call on Thursday is expected to clarify the US semiconductor giant’s outsourcing production plans, which would be crucial regarding Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) performance, analysts said. “TSMC stands to benefit if Intel outsources more of its fabrication to foundries,” SinoPac Securities Investment Service Corp (永豐投顧) analysts said in a note on Friday. Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) was more cautious, saying that Intel’s contribution initially would be limited, but its outsourcing plans would still highlight TSMC’s leadership in technology, it added. “Intel will continue to manufacture server or high-end central processing units [CPUs], which have higher
MOBILE SMART: The Dimensity 1200 is 22 percent better in terms of performance than its predecessor, and 25 percent more power-efficient, the handset chip designer said MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday unveiled its premium 5G processors — the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 — as it vies for a larger slice of the world’s rapidly growing 5G smartphone market. Manufactured using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (台積電) 6-nanometer process technology, the Dimensity 1200 processor performs 22 percent better than the previous generation Dimensity 1000+ processor, and is 25 percent more power-efficient, MediaTek said. Chinese smartphone brands Xiaomi Corp (小米) and Realme Mobile Telecommunications (Shenzhen) Co (銳爾覓移動通信) are to be the first adopters of the latest Dimensity chips, the companies said during a virtual media briefing. Xiaomi plans to equip its first
Norway’s oil and gas reserves have made it one of the world’s wealthiest countries, but its dreams for deep-sea discovery now center on something different. This time, Oslo is looking for a leading role in mining copper, zinc and other metals found on the seabed and in hot demand in green technologies. The country could license companies for deep-sea mining as early as 2023, the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy said, potentially placing it among the first countries to harvest seabed metals for electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines and solar farms. However, that could also place it on the front line of
‘BROAD RANGE’: The US Department of Commerce intends to deny a significant number of license requests for exports to Huawei, an industry association said US President Donald Trump’s administration notified Huawei Technologies Co (華為) suppliers, including chipmaker Intel Corp, that it is revoking certain licenses to sell to the Chinese company and intends to reject dozens of other applications to supply the telecommunications firm, people familiar with the matter told reporters. The action — likely the last against Huawei under Trump — is the latest in a long-running effort to weaken the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, which Washington sees as a national security threat. The notices came amid a flurry of US efforts against China in the final days of Trump’s administration. US president-elect Joe
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