E Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技), the world’s sole e-paper display supplier, yesterday said that revenue would grow by a single-digit percentage sequentially this quarter, thanks to retailers’ demand for electronic shelf labels (ESL), but concerns over a recession would affect consumer demand for e-readers and e-notes.
Next quarter would see a seasonal slowdown, with revenue contracting on a quarterly basis, but expanding annually, E Ink chairman Johnson Lee (李政昊) told investors at an online conference yesterday.
“We are conservative about overall market demand next year, but we believe there is still a chance to grow,” Lee said. “ESL would be the segment that outshines others.”
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
E Ink is optimistic about US retailers’ uptake of ESLs next year, which should benefit the company and its partners in the e-paper display ecosystem, Lee said.
The US’ ESL market is 10 times larger than that of the European market, Lee added.
“Retailers are facing challenges amid a high-inflation era as they have to adjust prices within a very short period. At this point, it is not easy to find entry-level workers when the economy reopens,” Lee said. “We have received ESL orders, but the uncertainty is whether they would install ESLs ahead of schedule, or delay it.”
The company said it would keep a watchful eye on changes in the e-reader and e-note market, as demand could sag if there is a recession next year, Lee said.
On the other hand, demand could swing up following the introduction of e-readers and e-notes with color displays, he said.
E Ink said it is sticking to its projected capital expenditure of between NT$5 billion and NT$6 billion (US$160.5 million and US$192.6 million) for this year and likely next year.
Most capacity expansion plans at home, in the US and China are progressing according to the company’s schedule, Lee said.
The company more than doubled its net profit last quarter to NT$8.08 billion, from NT$4.24 billion in the third quarter last year.
E Ink plans to ramp up the production of its H4 production line in Hsinchu in the first quarter of next year.
It expects to install new equipment at the H5 production line in another Hsinchu fab next year or in 2024.
The H6 line, also in Hsinchu, is expected to commence production in 2025, it said.
E Ink said it tends to delay the construction of a new production line in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) due to a labor shortage and high material costs.
The company’s third-quarter net profit skyrocketed to NT$4.24 billion from NT$1.23 billion a year earlier.
On a quarterly basis, net profit more than doubled from NT$2.37 billion.
Earnings per share (EPS) jumped to NT$3.72 from NT$1.08 a year earlier and NT$2.08 the previous quarter.
Third-quarter revenue soared to NT$8.1 billion from NT$4.4 billion a year earlier and NT$7.45 billion the prior quarter.
In the first three quarters, net profit surged to NT$8.08 billion from NT$3.79 billion the previous year, with EPS climbing to NT$7.08 from NT$3.33.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last