ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai pay date unveiled
Key iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said it plans to distribute a cash dividend to shareholders on July 28. At the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday last week, shareholders approved the company’s proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$5.3 per common share based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$10.21. The company is expected to distribute a total of NT$73.47 billion (US$2.39 billion) in dividends this year, with company founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) likely to receive NT$9.23 billion in dividend income as he owns about 1.74 billion shares.
ELECTRONICS
HTC sales up almost 20%
Smartphone maker HTC Corp’s (宏達電) consolidated sales for last month rose 19.67 percent month-on-month and 18.28 percent year-on-year to NT$359 million, the company said yesterday. As the company has managed to diversify its product mix and develop its virtual reality business to take the pressure off its lackluster smartphone sales, revenue for the first five months of the year grew 1.11 percent year-on-year to NT$1.64 billion. Analysts attributed the improvement in sales to the contribution from the company’s virtual reality headset Vive XR Elite, which it launched in late February.
TELECOMS
Sercomm sales up 9.1%
Sercomm Corp (中磊電子), which supplies telecommunications and broadband equipment, yesterday reported that consolidated sales for last month grew 9.1 percent to NT$5.02 billion from NT$4.6 billion a year earlier. Last month’s figure was the best May performance in the company’s history. The company attributed the increase to governments around the world investing in infrastructure construction, which has continued to drive demand for networking equipment. From January to last month, cumulative sales totaled NT$26.18 billion, up 18.1 percent from NT$22.16 billion for the same period last year, the company said in a statement.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Sigurd sees demand pickup
Chip testing and packaging services provider Sigurd Microelectronics Corp (矽格) yesterday reported that consolidated sales for last month rose 1.07 percent month-on-month, but declined 30.85 percent year-on-year to NT$1.21 billion. The company said last month’s sales were in line with expectations, adding that demand is expected to recover in the second half of the year as orders are slowly picking up. Sales in the first five months decreased 24.84 percent year-on-year to NT$6.03 billion, it said. Sigurd is to hold its annual general meeting today, at which shareholders are to vote on the company’s proposed cash dividend of NT$4.2 per common share.
MACHINERY
Hiwin bullish about Q3
Machinery maker Hiwin Technologies Co (上銀科技) posted revenue of NT$2.22 billion for last month, down 19.31 percent from a year earlier, the company said yesterday. On a monthly basis, revenue rose 2.98 percent due to more working days last month, it said. Cumulative revenue for the first five months of the year decreased 22.63 percent year-on-year to NT$10.1 billion, said the company, which makes ball screws and linear guideways. Hiwin’s order visibility has extended to three to four months from two months in the fourth quarter of last year, and its revenue growth is expected to turn positive from the third quarter of this year amid an upcycle.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
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