Amtran Technology Co (瑞軒), which makes TVs for Vizio Inc, last year posted its best net profit in four years, thanks to a spike in nonoperating gains, and strong demand for gaming monitors and Internet-related products amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the company only shipped 4 percent more TVs and monitors last year from 2019, Amtran on Monday said that demand this year is increasing, and to handle that, it plans to have a new production line at its Vietnamese factory operational by the end of this quarter.
With the expanded production capacity, shipments of TVs and monitors this year are predicted to increase by a double-digit percentage, the company said.
Net profit last year surged to NT$553.16 million (US$19.54 million) from NT$4.69 million in 2019, the company said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing.
Earnings per share climbed to NT$0.68 from NT$0.01 in 2019, it added.
Amtran’s operating loss widened to NT$556.97 million from an operating loss of NT$108.82 million in 2019.
That marked the company’s sixth consecutive year of operating losses.
Consolidated revenue rose 10.04 percent to NT$16.75 billion from NT$15.22 billion in 2019.
Amtran’s growth mainly came from peripheral computer products, with revenue from computer mouses, Webcams and smart speakers soaring 300 percent year-on-year last year, it said.
The company said that it has seen signs of growth this year, as cumulative revenue in the first two months jumped 36.74 percent to NT$2.64 billion from NT$1.93 billion in 2019.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
Nvidia Corp’s negotiations to invest as much as US$100 billion in OpenAI have broken down, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, exposing a potential rift between two of the most powerful companies in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. The discussions stalled after some inside Nvidia expressed concerns about the transaction, the WSJ reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the deliberations. OpenAI makes the popular chatbot ChatGPT, while Nvidia dominates the market for AI processors that help develop such software. The companies announced the agreement in September last year, saying at the time that they had signed a letter of intent for a strategic