Micro-Star International Co’s (MSI, 微星科技) US unit has acquired a commercial property in California for US$65.2 million as the computer hardware supplier considers operational needs, it said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday last week.
The company early last month told an earnings conference that it would soon announce plans for new production lines in the US in light of US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy.
Trump on April 2 announced the imposition of a 32 percent “reciprocal” tariff on Taiwanese goods, which he on April 9 postponed for 90 days.
Photo: CNA
MSI’s board of directors also agreed to inject US$33 million in new capital into MSI Computer Corp to expand the US unit’s operational scale, the filing said.
US revenue for the company, which produces laptops, graphics cards, motherboards and other computer components, accounted for 26 percent of its total revenue last year, compared with 37 percent for the Asia-Pacific region and another 37 percent generated from Europe, the Middle East and Africa combined, its earnings report showed.
“We have long considered plans to strengthen our production in the US subsidiary due to the continued tension caused by the US-China trade war. The decision today reflected our years-long evaluation,” an MSI spokesman told the Taipei Times by telephone.
The company also plans to adjust its overseas production deployment in response to Trump’s tariff policy, the spokesman said.
“Some of our main local rivals are adopting similar strategies, such as relocating factories to Mexico or expanding manufacturing in the US, as we are all striving for survival and better shipments,” he said.
MSI reported earnings per share of NT$8.04 for last year, compared with NT$8.92 a year earlier, as net profit dropped 9.82 percent year-on-year to NT$6.79 billion (US$208.23 million) from NT$7.53 billion.
Revenue last year rose 8.1 percent to NT$197.87 billion, from NT$182.97 billion a year earlier, while gross margin fell to 12.2 percent from 12.5 percent and operating margin decreased to 3.6 percent from 4.8 percent.
Sales of the company’s three major products — motherboards, graphics processing units and notebook computers — are expected to increase by double-digit percentages this year, MSI chairman Joseph Hsu (徐祥) told investors on March 14.
The company’s average selling prices for products and gross margin are also expected to rise following the launch of artificial intelligence (AI) PCs and graphics cards in the second half of this year, Hsu said.
MSI has moved some production lines from China to Taiwan since 2020 amid the US-China trade dispute during Trump’s first term.
The firm has factories in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和) and Taoyuan’s Gueishan District (龜山), and it last year purchased land in Taoyuan for a proposed new plant, which would focus on the research and development, and the manufacturing of high value-added products such as AI servers, AI of things applications and charging piles.
Construction of the new plant is scheduled to start this year and is to become operational in 2027, MSI said.
The company’s Taiwanese peers have made similar moves to expand US production capacity to avoid heavy tariffs imposed by the White House.
Wistron Corp (緯創) has set up a new US subsidiary, Wistron InfoComm (USA) Corp, and is preparing to acquire land and property in the US, the company said early this month.
Inventec Corp (英業達) has said it is on the lookout for a production site in Texas, while Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) said it continues to expand capacity at its server plants in California and Tennessee.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
RSS