TECHNOLOGY
E Ink payout plan approved
Shareholders of E Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技), a leading e-paper display supplier, yesterday approved the company’s proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$3.2 per share, suggesting a payout ratio of 70.64 percent based on the company’s earnings per share of NT$4.53 last year, which were the highest in 10 years. E Ink reported revenue of NT$19.65 billion (US$659.62 million) for last year, the highest in nearly nine years, due to robust demand for e-paper displays, e-notes and electronic shelf labels. E Ink chief financial officer Lloyd Chen (陳樂群) told shareholders that the evolution of the contactless economy and digital transformation of retailing businesses have increased demand for the company’s products, prompting it to launch three new production lines for e-paper displays this year, as well as another production line next year. The company also pledged to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
STEELMAKERS
CSC pretax profit drops
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s only integrated steelmaker, yesterday reported that its pretax profit last month dropped 22 percent to NT$4.44 billion from a month earlier, as revenue decreased 4.24 percent year-on-year to NT$45.41 billion. On a yearly basis, China Steel’s pretax profit fell 41.76 percent, the company said. The monthly decline in pretax profit was mainly due to a decrease in sales volume, while a lack of income from its mining investment compared with April also led to a decline in profit, it said. From January to last month, the company reported a 9 percent decrease in cumulative pretax profit to NT$24.6 billion, down from NT$26.9 billion a year earlier. Consolidated revenue in the first five months of the year increased 17 percent to NT$204.1 billion, up from NT$174.45 billion a year earlier.
COMPUTERS
Adlink expects improvements
Industrial computer maker Adlink Technology Inc (凌華科技) yesterday said gross margin would improve in the second half of the year, thanks to price hikes and favorable foreign exchange rates. Its inventory level is also forecast to decline in the second half compared with the first half, the company told shareholders at its annual general meeting in Taipei. With component and raw material shortages expected to ease in the coming months, and production resuming at its plants in China, Adlink said its business outlook would improve in the third and fourth quarters, after a weak performance in the first two quarters. The company reported earnings per share of NT$0.55 last year, down 51.2 percent year-on-year. Shareholders approved the company’s plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$0.3 per share.
INSURANCE
Firms lose on virus policies
Local insurance companies had as of Monday paid 314,900 COVID-19 insurance policyholders a total of NT$11.2 billion, three times the cumulative premium income of NT$3.56 billion from the sales of the policies, the Financial Supervisory Commission told a news conference on Tuesday. Compensation would likely surpass NT$15 billion at the end of this month, the commission said. Meanwhile, 3.76 million policies have been sold so far this year, the commission said. The number of claims grew by 70,000 to 80,000 per week amid rising local COVID-19 case numbers, the commission said.
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
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