Industrial computer maker Ennoconn Corp (樺漢科技) yesterday said it is optimistic about the growing opportunities in the edge computing business and expects significant growth this year in the company’s three major units — design and manufacturing, systems integration and brand business.
With a book-to-bill ratio of about 1.1 percent to 1.15 percent, and an order backlog exceeding NT$180 billion (US$5.42 billion), Ennoconn said it holds clear order visibility and expects the company’s revenue, gross profit and net profit to show stable growth this year.
A book-to-bill ratio above 1 percent indicates increasing demand.
Photo: CNA
Ennoconn Corp, a subsidiary of electronics giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), at an earnings conference in Taipei, said that it plans to set up a new factory in Tennessee to respond to US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy. The facility is expected to begin production in the third quarter of this year.
Revenue last year increased 20.3 percent to NT$146.38 billion from NT$121.64 billion in 2023, thanks to substantial sales contribution from the company’s high-margin cloud solution as a service (SaaS) business in light of the huge opportunities related to digital transformation, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, new energy installations and information security.
Europe remained Ennoconn’s largest market last year, accounting for 35.5 percent of its total revenue, followed by the US with 29.1 percent, China with 9.8 percent and other regions accounting for 24.5 percent.
Net profit rose 21.2 percent to NT$2.74 billion from NT$2.26 billion a year earlier, and earnings per share increased to NT$20.03 from NT$19.01, company data showed.
The company’s board of directors on Friday proposed a cash dividend of NT$12.2 per share, representing a payout ratio of 60.91 percent.
This year, the company expects its design and manufacturing business to benefit from contribution by its partner New York-listed NCR Voyix Corp, a maker of POS systems, ATMs and barcode readers, it said, adding that its branded business, supported by German subsidiary Kontron AG, aims to expand into the aerospace, electric vehicle charging and energy management markets.
Additionally, its system integration business is expected to benefit from increasing semiconductor investment by its automated supply system and turnkey engineering subsidiary, Marketech International Corp (帆宣), in the US, it said.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new