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.
TECH TITAN: Pandemic-era demand for semiconductors turbocharged the nation’s GDP per capita to surpass South Korea’s, but it still remains half that of Singapore Taiwan is set to surpass South Korea this year in terms of wealth for the first time in more than two decades, marking a shift in Asia’s economic ranks made possible by the ascent of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). According to the latest forecasts released on Thursday by the central bank, Taiwan’s GDP is expected to expand 4.55 percent this year, a further upward revision from the 4.45 percent estimate made by the statistics bureau last month. The growth trajectory puts Taiwan on track to exceed South Korea’s GDP per capita — a key measure of living standards — a
Samsung Electronics Co shares jumped 4.47 percent yesterday after reports it has won approval from Nvidia Corp for the use of advanced high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which marks a breakthrough for the South Korean technology leader. The stock closed at 83,500 won in Seoul, the highest since July 31 last year. Yesterday’s gain comes after local media, including the Korea Economic Daily, reported that Samsung’s 12-layer HBM3E product recently passed Nvidia’s qualification tests. That clears the components for use in the artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators essential to the training of AI models from ChatGPT to DeepSeek (深度求索), and finally allows Samsung
READY TO HELP: Should TSMC require assistance, the government would fully cooperate in helping to speed up the establishment of the Chiayi plant, an official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its investment plans in Taiwan are “unchanged” amid speculation that the chipmaker might have suspended construction work on its second chip packaging plant in Chiayi County and plans to move equipment arranged for the plant to the US. The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported earlier yesterday that TSMC had halted the construction of the chip packaging plant, which was scheduled to be completed next year and begin mass production in 2028. TSMC did not directly address whether construction of the plant had halted, but said its investment plans in Taiwan remain “unchanged.” The chipmaker started
LOOKING BRIGHT: Taiwanese tech stocks have been trading at 18 to 19 times earnings, beating the 15 percent long-term average amid AI-driven optimism, an analyst said Taiwan’s economy could expand by as much as 5 percent this year, fueled by its technology manufacturing edge amid a global artificial intelligence (AI) boom, while tariff exemptions on semiconductor products keep the country’s levy burden low despite a headline rate of 20 percent, UBS Investment Bank said yesterday. “Although Washington has imposed a 20 percent tariff on goods from Taiwan, exemptions for semiconductors keep the weighted average low,” UBS senior economist for Asia and China William Deng (鄧維慎) said. The growth momentum is expected to extend into next year, with technology companies’ revenue projected to rise 17 percent, UBS research head
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