Chip testing service provider King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電子) yesterday said shareholders have approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$4 per share, an all-time high for the company.
That distribution represented a 62 percent payout ratio based on earnings per share of NT$6.36 for last year, up 33 percent from NT$4.78 in the previous year.
King Yuan expects the global semiconductor industry to pick up in the second half of this year compared with the first, it said in an annual report.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Revenue would grow at a faster pace this year than previous years, thanks to robust demand for chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices, the report said.
AI and HPC products contributed about 28 percent to the company’s revenue in the first quarter of this year, up from 22.8 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.
Separately, foundry service provider Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) yesterday said shareholders have approved a distribution of NT$4.5 per share.
That marked the fourth consecutive year that the chipmaker would pay NT$4.5 per common share, although it posted the weakest net profit last year in four years at NT$7.05 billion (US$235.4 million), or earnings per share of NT$4.16.
The company said it would allocate part of its retained earnings to fund the cash dividend distribution.
Vanguard’s revenue expanded 15 percent year-on-year to NT$44.06 billion, as the global semiconductor industry recovered from a prolonged inventory correction cycle last year.
The global semiconductor industry is expected to expand at a stable pace of 11 percent this year, excluding the memorychip sector, Vanguard president John Wei (尉濟時) told shareholders, citing a projection from Gartner Inc.
The growth would be driven by rising demand for AI applications, he said.
Vanguard expects wafer shipments to increase about 14 percent to 2.5 million units this year, compared with 2.19 million units, the company’s annual report showed.
Shareholders of smaller foundry company Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) yesterday approved the management’s proposition of not paying any cash dividend this year, keeping the funds for a new 12-inch fab to expand capacity over the next two years.
Powerchip vice chairman Brain Hsieh (謝再居) told shareholders during an annual shareholders’ meeting that the company would continue investing in the facility in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) to reach an economic scale over the next two years.
Powerchip reported net losses for the second consecutive year last year, with losses expanding to NT$6.8 billion from NT$1.64 billion in 2023.
Shiina Ito has had fewer Chinese customers at her Tokyo jewelry shop since Beijing issued a travel warning in the wake of a diplomatic spat, but she said she was not concerned. A souring of Tokyo-Beijing relations this month, following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, has fueled concerns about the impact on the ritzy boutiques, noodle joints and hotels where holidaymakers spend their cash. However, businesses in Tokyo largely shrugged off any anxiety. “Since there are fewer Chinese customers, it’s become a bit easier for Japanese shoppers to visit, so our sales haven’t really dropped,” Ito
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) received about NT$147 billion (US$4.71 billion) in subsidies from the US, Japanese, German and Chinese governments over the past two years for its global expansion. Financial data compiled by the world’s largest contract chipmaker showed the company secured NT$4.77 billion in subsidies from the governments in the third quarter, bringing the total for the first three quarters of the year to about NT$71.9 billion. Along with the NT$75.16 billion in financial aid TSMC received last year, the chipmaker obtained NT$147 billion in subsidies in almost two years, the data showed. The subsidies received by its subsidiaries —
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