SILICON WAFERS
GlobalWafers’ outlook rises
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday reported revenue of NT$5.41 billion (US$193.3 million) for last month, up 12.52 percent month-on-month and 6.81 percent year-on-year. As a result, the company’s second-quarter revenue increased 2.7 percent quarter-on-quarter and 11 percent year-on-year to NT$15.21 billion. In the first half of the year, revenue totaled NT$30.01 billion, up 10.28 percent from a year earlier, a company regulatory filing showed. GlobalWafers said that it has a positive outlook for the second half of the year thanks to a gradual recovery of the global economy and strong demand for semiconductors.
DISPLAYS
HannStar to add capacity
Handset display manufacturer HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) yesterday said that its board of directors approved to spend NT$17 billion to install equipment for manufacturing thin-film-?transistor liquid crystal display panels to increase the company’s capacity at its 5.3-generation plant in Tainan. The company said that it would use its own capital to fund the expansion and expects the new lines to begin mass production in 2023. While the company reported earnings per share of NT$1.25 for last year — the highest in four years — company data showed that in the first four months of this year, its earnings per share of NT$1.32 had already exceeded the figure for the whole of last year.
GLOBAL TRADE
Taiwan, Australia talk trade
Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) on Thursday last week videoconferenced with Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release on Tuesday. The ministers talked about “international trade issues,” and Tehan invited Wang to a hydrogen conference to be held at the Australian Office in Taipei on July 29, the ministry said. “The conference will foster collaboration between the two sides on new technological developments in renewable energy and will have a positive effect on Taiwan’s energy transition,” Wang said in the release.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Foxtron, San-Ti ink MOU
Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進科技), a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the San-Ti Group (三地集團) to integrate Hon Hai’s electric buses into San-Ti’s passenger bus fleet next year. The electric buses would be the first commercial vehicles designed using Hon Hai’s MIH Open Platform. The MOU says that the electric buses would be introduced into the fleet “phase by phase,” starting with a trial at San-Ti’s subsidiary, the Kaohsiung Bus Co (高雄客運). San-Ti operates 600 buses in Taiwan.
INVESTMENT
Fubon, Jih Sun unions talk
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), which gained a 53.84 percent stake in Jih Sun Financial Holding Co (日盛金控) in March, last week began to negotiate with Jih Sun’s two labor unions in a bid to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement. “We negotiated the labor rights issues via videoconference. It was a good beginning,” Fubon said in a statement on Sunday. The unions represent Jih Sun Financial and Jih Sun International Bank (日盛銀行), Fubon Financial said, adding that the next talks are to take place in three weeks. Fubon Financial said that it has 11 candidates to stand in the Jih Sun board election on Aug. 31, as it seeks to gain a majority on the board.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
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