TECHNOLOGY
King Yuan sales rise 2.42%
IC testing service provider King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電) yesterday reported revenue of NT$3.27 billion (US$118.3 million) for last month, up 2.42 percent month-on-month and 38.07 percent year-on-year. Revenue last quarter increased 6 percent to NT$9.53 billion — a record for the fourth quarter — as the company benefited from increased demand for chips used in 5G, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing applications. King Yuan’s revenue for the whole of last year rose 16.58 percent to NT$33.76 billion from 2020, also a company record.
CERTIFICATION
Sporton revenue hits record
Sporton International Inc (耕興), which provides professional product testing and certification services, yesterday reported that its revenue last month increased 17.75 percent month-on-month and 30.53 percent year-on-year to a record NT$412.27 million. Sporton said that it attributed the increase to robust demand in Taiwan and the US, as the markets continue to migrate to 5G technology. Revenue in the fourth quarter rose 18.11 percent to NT$1.11 billion from a year earlier, while revenue for the whole of last year reached NT$4.32 billion, up 22.94 percent from 2020, it said.
AIRLINES
CAL announces pay hike
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) yesterday said that it would give employees an annual bonus equal to six months’ wages and offer a 4 percent pay increase this year. CAL, the only Taiwanese carrier that made a profit in the first three quarters of last year, posted a net profit of nearly NT$1.56 billion. In the first 11 months of last year, its revenue increased 15.99 percent annually to NT$121.94 billion. The company is expected to continue benefiting from elevated cargo demand and robust air freight rates this year, Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評) said in October, after raising its outlook for the airline from “negative” to “stable.”
STEELMAKERS
Yieh Hsing to expand plant
Steelmaker Yieh Hsing Enterprise Co (燁興企業) yesterday said it would invest NT$1.272 billion to expand its plant at the Ping Nan Industrial Park (屏南工業區) in Pingtung County. The capacity of the plant, which supplies steel wires and stainless steel pipes, is expected to expand to 450,000 tonnes per year from 300,000 tonnes, Yieh Hsing said, adding that it plans to complete the expansion in two years. The money would also be used to upgrade facilities and install solar panels as the company seeks to improve the competitiveness of its product line, and comply with policies on energy savings and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, it said in a regulatory filing.
UNITED STATES
Greenback ‘to get stronger’
The US dollar is expected to become stronger in the first half of the year, but face downward pressure in the second half, as capital might leave the US if its fiscal and account deficits persist while economies elsewhere recover, Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (渣打國際商業銀行) said on Wednesday. Investors are advised to hold gold positions to hedge against volatility, as Standard Chartered believes virtual assets such as bitcoin are less effective at hedging against volatility, Standard Chartered investment strategy head Allen Liu (劉家豪) said. Cryptocurrencies are more like a special investment, which can hardly replace gold, he said.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
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