ELECTRONICS
Aces to buy US firms
Electronic connector and wire harness maker Aces Electronics Co Ltd’s (宏致電子) board of directors has agreed to spend US$26.9 million to acquire Genesis Technology USA Inc and Genesis Holding Co, it said yesterday. Aces would purchase 100 percent of the shares in both companies in an effort to expand its presence in the 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) markets, it said in a release. It expects to complete the transactions by the end of March, it added. Genesis Technology USA and Genesis Holding are headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with a combined revenue of about US$45 million this year. Their business focuses on connectors, cables, stamping customized metal parts, high-speed power connectors and high-speed cable assemblies, as well as customized total solutions. Their products are used in set-top boxes, cable modems, telecom products, cloud-based data centers, industrial controls, and 5G and IoT applications, Aces said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Nang Kuang drug approved
Nang Kuang Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (南光化學製藥) has received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for its abbreviated new drug application for a prefilled icatibant injection of 30mg per 3mL for the treatment of hereditary angioedema, the company said yesterday. The drug would be immediately launched in the US to increase the company’s revenue, it said. Nang Kuang reported cumulative revenue of NT$1.58 billion (US$55.5 million) in the first 11 months of the year, down 0.03 percent year-on-year. Net profit in the first three quarters of this year totaled NT$135.71 million, compared with NT$137.14 million in the same period last year, company data showed. Earnings per share fell from NT$1.37 to NT$1.34 over the period.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Vanguard leases gas plant
Vanguard International Semiconductor Co (世界先進) on Tuesday said it had reached an agreement to lease a gas plant in Singapore for S$17.61 million (US$13.3 million). The company, which makes power management ICs and driver ICs for displays, said in a regulatory filing that Vanguard International Semiconductor Singapore Pte Ltd has reached an agreement with Linde Gas Singapore Pte Ltd to lease a nitrogen gas plant for S$128,000 per month. Due to strong demand for 8-inch wafers, Vanguard has been expanding capacity since last year and plans to increase its Singaporean unit’s monthly capacity to 40,000 wafers in the middle of next year, from 30,000 wafers this year. The company has said that the output of the Singaporean plant is expected to contribute to 15 percent of its total output next year, up from 10 percent this year.
EQUITIES
Index seeks accreditation
CTBC Investments Co Ltd (中國信託投信) has applied for the accreditation of the ICE Factset Taiwan ESG Leading Semiconductor Index with the Taiwan Stock Exchange, marking the 11th accreditation case for 14 indices this year, the exchange said in a release yesterday. The ICE Factset Taiwan ESG Leading Semiconductor Index is compiled and maintained by ICE Data Indices LLC to track the performance of high-quality or dividend-paying semiconductor companies listed in Taiwan, the exchange said. There are 30 stocks selected as constituents of the index, it said. There are 118 listed exchange-traded funds, tracking domestic and international exchanges’ equity, bond, commodity and other investment tools to meet investor’s diverse appetite and asset allocation purposes, the exchange said.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Apple Inc increased iPhone production in India by about 53 percent last year and now makes a quarter of its marquee devices there, reflecting the US company’s efforts to avoid tariffs on China. The company assembled about 55 million iPhones in India last year, up from 36 million a year earlier, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because the numbers aren’t public. Apple makes about 220 million to 230 million iPhones a year globally, with India’s share of the total increasing rapidly. Apple has accelerated its expansion in the world’s most populous country in recent years, bolstered
HEADWINDS: The company said it expects its computer business, as well as consumer electronics and communications segments to see revenue declines due to seasonality Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it aims to grow its artificial intelligence (AI) server revenue more than 10-fold this year from last year, driven by orders from neocloud solutions clients and large cloud service providers. The electronics manufacturing service provider said AI server revenue growth would be driven primarily by the Nvidia Corp GB300 server platform. Server shipments are expected to increase each quarter this year, with the second half likely to outperform the first half, it said. The AI server market is expected to broaden this year as more inference applications emerge, which would drive demand for system-on-chip, application-specific integrated circuits
PROJECTION: TSMC said it expects strong growth this year, with revenue in US dollars projected to grow by about 30 percent, outperforming the industry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported consolidated sales last month reached NT$317.66 billion (US$9.98 billion), the highest ever for the month of February, driven by robust demand for chips built using the company’s advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process. Last month’s figure was up 22.2 percent from a year earlier, but fell 20.8 percent from January, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. For the first two months of the year, TSMC posted cumulative sales of NT$718.91 billion, up 29.9 percent from a year earlier. Analysts attributed the growth to sustained global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products
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