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.
South Korea’s equity benchmark yesterday crossed a new milestone just a month after surpassing the once-unthinkable 5,000 mark as surging global memory demand powers the country’s biggest chipmakers. The KOSPI advanced as much as 2.6 percent to a record 6,123, with Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc each gaining more than 2 percent. With the benchmark now up 45 percent this year, South Korea’s stock market capitalization has also moved past France’s, following last month’s overtaking of Germany’s. Long overlooked by foreign funds, despite being undervalued, South Korean stocks have now emerged as clear winners in the global market. The so-called “artificial intelligence
‘SEISMIC SHIFT’: The researcher forecast there would be about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior year and erasing years of gains The global smartphone market is expected to contract 12.9 percent this year due to the unprecedented memorychip shortage, marking “a crisis like no other,” researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said. The new forecast, a dramatic revision down from earlier estimates, gives the latest accounting of the ongoing memory crunch that is affecting every corner of the electronics industry. The demand for advanced memory to power artificial intelligence (AI) tasks has drained global supply until well into next year and jeopardizes the business model of many smartphone makers. IDC forecast about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior
People stand in a Pokemon store in Tokyo on Thursday. One of the world highest-grossing franchises is celebrated its 30th anniversary yesterday.
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) latest AI model, set to be released as soon as next week, was trained on Nvidia Corp’s most advanced AI chip, the Blackwell, a senior official of US President Donald Trump’s administration said on Monday, in what could represent a violation of US export controls. The US believes DeepSeek will remove the technical indicators that might reveal its use of American AI chips, the official said, adding that the Blackwells are likely clustered at its data center in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of China. The person declined to say how the US government received
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