GAMING
Soft-World to diversify
Soft-World International Corp (智冠科技), an online game developer, yesterday told shareholders that the company would continue to diversify its business scope, provide comprehensive service support and reach more overseas markets. The company’s non-gaming business segment — such as online advertising and marketing, and financial technology — has contributed more than 30 percent of its total sales, and the demand for related services continues to grow, the company told shareholders at its annual general meeting in Taipei. The company reported earnings per share of NT$6.84 for last year, the second-highest in the past 11 years. Shareholders yesterday approved a proposal to distribute a dividend of NT$5.2 per share, or a payout ratio of 76 percent.
SHIPPING
Shih Wei remains bullish
Dry bulk shipper Shih Wei Navigation Co (四維航業) yesterday said it remains optimistic about the prospects of the bulk shipping market this year, despite headwinds ahead. The company told shareholders at its annual general meeting in Taipei that it would be prudent in planning its fleet operations in the wake of potential challenges, such as extreme weather, labor constraints and port congestion. The company reported earnings per share of NT$7.16 for last year, the highest since 2008, and decided to distribute a cash dividend of NT$2 per share. Many countries are shifting to coexisting with COVID-19, which would add support to the bulk shipping market, Shih Wei said. However, the global economy is under pressure from geopolitical conflict, economic sanctions and monetary tightening, the company said, adding that it would strive to maximize its financial and operational resources to generate greater returns for shareholders.
ELECTRONICS
HTC shares surge 10%
Smartphone brand HTC Corp (宏達電) on Monday said that chairwoman Cher Wang (王雪紅) was named an independent nonexecutive director at the China-based Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想). HTC shares yesterday surged 10 percent, the daily maximum, to close at NT$46.3 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, as the move sparked market speculation that Lenovo would team up with HTC in the emerging “metaverse” market, dealers said. The “metaverse” is the in-vogue name for immersive Internet technologies accessed through virtual reality and related devices. HTC said that Wang has worked in the information technology industry for more than 40 years and would continue to promote industrial innovation in the areas of virtual reality, augmented reality, 5G, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology.
TOURISM
Japan tops destinations
Japan is the top destination that Taiwanese tourists want to visit as the COVID-19 pandemic eases, a survey released on Monday by Lion Travel Service Co (雄獅旅行社) found. The top five destinations were rounded out by South Korea, Europe, Asia and Africa, and Southeast Asia, the travel agency said in a statement about the online survey that drew about 3,000 respondents. Europe surpassed Southeast Asia on Taiwanese tourists’ destination lists, which Lion Travel attributed to a lifting of pandemic-related border restrictions in European countries. Europe-bound tour packages remain more economical than packages for other destinations, despite a 30 percent increase in prices, making Taiwanese more willing to travel to that part of the world for sightseeing, the travel agency said.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
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