Contract electronics manufacturer Inventec Corp (英業達) on Tuesday posted its best profit in 13 quarters as its revenue surged and operating margin held steady.
The company, which produces notebook computers, servers and smart devices for brand clients, reported net profit of NT$2.37 billion (US$71.9 million) in the fourth quarter of last year, up 18.68 percent from the previous quarter.
Profit was up 19.28 percent year-on-year, Inventec said in a regulatory filing.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
Revenue in the quarter increased 21 percent quarterly and 54 percent annually to NT$197.78 billion, and gross margin declined to 5.1 percent, but operating margin improved to 2 percent, company data showed.
Earnings per share (EPS) were NT$0.66 last quarter, the highest since the third quarter of 2021, when the company made NT$0.78 per share.
For this quarter, Inventec expects shipments of notebook computers, servers and wearable devices to be lower than last quarter due to weak seasonal demand.
However, judging from order visibility, the company expects the sequential decline to be less than expected and is positive about increasing shipments in the following quarters, although the global consequences of new US trade policies warrant further observation, it said.
For the whole of last year, Inventec reported net profit of NT$7.27 billion, up 18.53 percent from 2023.
EPS stood at NT$2.03, up from NT$1.71 the previous year.
Full-year revenue increased 26 percent to a record of NT$646.26 billion, gross margin rose 0.1 percentage points to 5.2 percent, the highest in seven years, and operating margin grew 0.4 percentage points to 1.8 percent, the company said.
Inventec’s board of directors on Tuesday proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$1.7 per share, the company said in a separate regulatory filing.
If approved by shareholders on May 28, the planned cash dividend would represent a payout ratio of 83.74 percent.
Inventec said the board also proposed investing US$539.5 billion in Thailand to renovate plants, and install new equipment on server and laptop production lines.
The company has continued to improve its non-China production capacity in the past few years, aiming to ship goods and components to the US from its manufacturing bases in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Mexico.
Inventec has set up manufacturing bases for automotive electronics in Vietnam and Mexico, production facilities for wearable devices in Malaysia and Vietnam, notebook computer assembly lines in Thailand and Vietnam, and server plants in Taiwan, Mexico and Thailand.
In the wake of new trade policies unveiled by US President Donald Trump, the company was looking for sites in Texas to produce high-end servers, Inventec management said at a corporate event in January, citing the state’s adequate power supply and its proximity to Mexico.
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
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
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for