FOOD AND BEVERAGE
UPE earnings top forecasts
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (UPE, 統一企業), the nation’s largest food-and-beverage conglomerate, yesterday reported stronger-than-expected earnings for the first quarter on contributions from its subsidiaries. Consolidated net profit was NT$5.41 billion (US$193.5 million) last quarter, up 20.97 percent from a year earlier, or earnings per share of NT$0.95 — the highest for the period in the company’s history. Consolidated revenue rose 6.62 percent year-on-year to NT$115.46 billion in the first quarter, while gross margin fell 0.38 percentage points to 33.9 percent. Tainan-based UPE’s major subsidiaries include Taiwan’s President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), Ton Yi Industrial Corp (統一實業), ScinoPharm Taiwan Ltd (台灣神隆) and President Securities Corp (統一證券), as well as its Chinese unit, Uni-President China Holdings Ltd (統一中國控股).
COMPUTERS
Compal’s Q1 profit soars
Contract laptop computer maker Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) yesterday reported net profit of NT$2.62 billion for the first quarter, up 333 percent from a year earlier, but down 43 percent from the previous quarter, or earnings per share of NT$0.6. The firm attributed the annual increase in net profit to the effect of a larger economy of scale and the efficiency of automated production, which caused its operating profit to increase 261 percent year-on-year to NT$3.28 billion. With consolidated revenue rising 48 percent to NT$269.99 billion last quarter, Compal said its operating margin reached 1.21 percent. The firm last week reported that laptop shipments last month fell 20 percent month-on-month to 4.4 million units, but increased 2.33 percent from a year earlier. Shipments this quarter are likely to rise by a double-digit percentage from last quarter, the firm said.
INSURANCE
FSC fines Fubon Life NT$3m
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on Tuesday fined Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) NT$3 million for breaches of its internal controls, after it secretly payed external insurance brokers and sales agents to promote its products. An FSC inspection found that Fubon Life paid the sales agents NT$28 million between 2014 and 2019, Insurance Bureau Deputy Director-General Chang Yu-hui (張玉輝) said. The firm said the payments were promotional fees, but that contravened its internal controls, which only allow it to pay the fees to its sales and internal marketing staff, Chang said. The firm did not establish a mechanism to track and control promotional expenses, he said.
E-COMMERCE
Beijing Yuanxin mulls IPO
Beijing Yuanxin Technology Co (北京圓心科技), which runs pharmaceutical e-commerce platform Miaoshou Doctor, is considering a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) that could raise US$500 million, people familiar with the matter said. The firm, which counts Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) and Qiming Venture Partners (啟明創投) among its backers, is working with CLSA Ltd and Goldman Sachs Group Inc on the potential sale, they said. Separately, LinkDoc Technology Ltd (零氪科技), a Beijing-based medical data firm backed by Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd (阿里健康), is planning an IPO for as soon as this year that could raise about US$500 million, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Chinese firm is working with Bank of America Corp, China International Capital Corp (中國國際金融) and Morgan Stanley on the sale, they said, adding that LinkDoc is still considering potential venues.
ASML Holding NV’s new advanced chip machines have a daunting price tag, said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), one of the Dutch company’s biggest clients. “The cost is very high,” TSMC senior vice president Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, referring to ASML’s latest system known as high-NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV). “I like the high-NA EUV’s capability, but I don’t like the sticker price,” Zhang said. ASML’s new chip machine can imprint semiconductors with lines that are just 8 nanometers thick — 1.7 times smaller than the previous generation. The machines cost 350 million euros (US$378 million)
Apple Inc has closed in on an agreement with OpenAI to use the start-up’s technology on the iPhone, part of a broader push to bring artificial intelligence (AI) features to its devices, people familiar with the matter said. The two sides have been finalizing terms for a pact to use ChatGPT features in Apple’s iOS 18, the next iPhone operating system, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. Apple also has held talks with Alphabet Inc’s Google about licensing its Gemini chatbot. Those discussions have not led to an agreement, but are ongoing. An OpenAI
EXPLOSION: A driver who was transporting waste material from the site was hit by a blunt object after an uncontrolled pressure release and thrown 6m from the truck Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday there was no damage to its facilities after an incident at its Arizona factory construction site where a waste disposal truck driver was transported to hospital. Firefighters responded to an explosion on Wednesday afternoon at the TSMC plant in Phoenix, the Arizona Republic reported, citing the local fire department. Cesar Anguiano-Guitron, 41, was transporting waste material from the project site and stopped to inspect the tank when he was made aware of a potential problem, a police report seen by Bloomberg News showed. Following an “uncontrolled pressure release,” he was hit by a blunt
‘FULL SUPPORT’: Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura said he hopes more companies would settle in the prefecture to create an area similar to Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park The newly elected governor of Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture said he is ready to ensure wide-ranging support to woo Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to build its third Japanese chip factory there. Concerns of groundwater shortages when TSMC’s two plants begin operations in the prefecture’s Kikuyo have spurred discussions about the possibility of tapping unused dam water, Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura said in an interview on Saturday. While Kimura said talks about a third plant have yet to occur, Bloomberg had reported TSMC is already considering its third Japanese fab — also in Kumamoto — which would make more advanced chips. “We are