SEMICONDUCTORS
Vanguard revenue drops
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進), which makes display driver ICs and power management chips, yesterday said revenue dropped 3.73 percent month-on-month to NT$3.56 billion (US$111.6 million). Last month’s revenue fell 5.6 percent from a year earlier and was the lowest in about 17 months, company data showed. Vanguard attributed the decline to a reduction in wafer shipments due to a slowdown in market demand, as customers made inventory adjustments amid central banks’ interest rate hikes to curb inflation. United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), the world’s third-largest contract chipmaker, reported that revenue fell 3.4 percent monthly to NT$24.34 billion last month. That represented an annual expansion of 27 percent from NT$19.16 billion, it said.
ELECTRONICS
Novatek eyes rise in revenue
Novatek Microelectronics Corp (聯詠), which designs display driver ICs, on Tuesday forecast revenue would increase 2.25 percent this quarter to NT$20 billion, from NT$19.56 billion last quarter, aided by rush orders for driver ICs used in TVs and rising demand for driver ICs used in OLED panels. Gross margin is predicted to fall to between 38.5 and 40.5 percent this quarter from 42.65 last quarter due to higher costs and lower prices, the company said. Novatek said inventory adjustments in the supply chain would likely return to normal in the first quarter of next year. The company’s net profit for last quarter almost halved to NT$4.31 billion from NT$8.49 billion in the previous quarter and was 65 percent less than the NT$12.27 billion it posted a year earlier, company data showed.
COMPUTERS
PC firms post mixed results
Contract notebook computer makers Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) yesterday reported mixed sales results for last month. Revenue at Quanta decreased 9.9 percent month-on-month, but increased 8.1 percent year-on-year to NT$108.79 billion, the company said in a statement. It shipped 4.2 million notebook computers last month, down 1.1 million units from September. Quanta is expected to hold an investors’ conference tomorrow to report on its outlook for its fourth-quarter performance. Compal said in a separate statement that its sales declined 9.3 percent monthly and 18.8 percent annually to NT$94.85 billion. It shipped 2.9 million laptops last month, a decrease of 200,000 units from a month earlier, the company said. In the first 10 months of the year, Quanta’s sales totaled NT$1.06 trillion, up 19.3 percent year-on-year, while Compal’s sales fell 6.6 percent to NT$919.39 billion.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Uni-President earnings slip
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), the nation’s largest food-and-beverage conglomerate, yesterday reported that earnings for last quarter fell from a year earlier due to rising raw material costs and smaller contributions from its subsidiaries. Net profit was NT$5.53 billion last quarter, down 3.31 percent from a year earlier, or earnings per share of NT$0.97, even though consolidated revenue rose 13.48 percent year-on-year to NT$141.76 billion. Gross margin fell 0.74 percentage points to 31.97 percent last quarter. In the first three quarters, net profit dropped 11.45 percent to NT$14.61 billion, with earnings per share of NT$2.57. Tainan-based UPE’s major subsidiaries include President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), Ton Yi Industrial Corp (統一實業), ScinoPharm Taiwan Ltd (台灣神隆) and President Securities Corp (統一證券), as well as its Chinese unit, Uni-President China Holdings Ltd (統一中國控股).
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
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
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
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries. On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment. In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based
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