Connector maker SpeedTech Corp (宣德) yesterday said it plans to expand capacity at its Mexico plant by year-end with six new surface-mount technology production lines, 14 injection molding machine lines and two assembly lines, company spokesman Ethan Hsu (徐嘉德) told an earnings conference in Taipei.
The expansion would support production of printed circuit controller boards for tier-one North American automotive customers, as well as point-of-sale terminals for a major North American mobile payment provider, Hsu said.
The company also expects to begin shipping new products to a US earphone customer next quarter from its Vietnam plant, focusing on true wireless stereo components and advanced connectors, he said.
Photo courtesy of SpeedTech Corp
SpeedTech, which supplies connectors and wiring harnesses, enclosures and plastic injection parts, operates plants in Taiwan, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Mexico. Its major customers include Apple Inc and Tesla Inc.
Connectors are expected to generate 50 percent of SpeedTech’s revenue this year, with electronic components contributing 20 percent, and final assembly and other businesses accounting for the remaining 30 percent, he said.
SpeedTech expects revenue this year to be split 45 percent in the first half and 55 percent in the second half, he added.
Hsu said a US smartphone customer, which he declined to name, accounted for 45 percent of SpeedTech’s revenue last year.
Shipments to the customer have so far remained on par with last year, but mass shipments are to begin next month and continue through October, he added.
Although the third quarter is traditionally the company’s peak season, revenue is expected to hit its high in the fourth quarter on the back of mass shipments of a system assembly product, Hsu said.
SpeedTech reported first-half revenue of NT$10.92 billion (US$358.62 million), up 20 percent year-on-year.
However, the sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar in the second quarter reduced revenue by about NT$100 million, he said.
As a result, the company reported a net loss of NT$105 million in the second quarter, the first quarterly loss in two years.
The company still posted a net profit of NT$82.67 million in the first half of the year, or earnings per share of NT$0.48.
Full-year revenue is expected to surpass last year’s level, supported by the company’s Mini Cool Edge IO products, Hsu said.
The products are designed and partly manufactured in Taiwan, with the first batch of samples submitted for authentication yesterday and mass production slated for next year, he added.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
AI TALENT: No financial details were released about the deal, in which top Groq executives, including its CEO, would join Nvidia to help advance the technology Nvidia Corp has agreed to a licensing deal with artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Groq, furthering its investments in companies connected to the AI boom and gaining the right to add a new type of technology to its products. The world’s largest publicly traded company has paid for the right to use Groq’s technology and is to integrate its chip design into future products. Some of the start-up’s executives are leaving to join Nvidia to help with that effort, the companies said. Groq would continue as an independent company with a new chief executive, it said on Wednesday in a post on its Web
CHINA RIVAL: The chips are positioned to compete with Nvidia’s Hopper and Blackwell products and would enable clusters connecting more than 100,000 chips Moore Threads Technology Co (摩爾線程) introduced a new generation of chips aimed at reducing artificial intelligence (AI) developers’ dependence on Nvidia Corp’s hardware, just weeks after pulling off one of the most successful Chinese initial public offerings (IPOs) in years. “These products will significantly enhance world-class computing speed and capabilities that all developers aspire to,” Moore Threads CEO Zhang Jianzhong (張建中), a former Nvidia executive, said on Saturday at a company event in Beijing. “We hope they can meet the needs of more developers in China so that you no longer need to wait for advanced foreign products.” Chinese chipmakers are in
POLICY REVERSAL: The decision to allow sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China came after years of tightening controls and has drawn objections among some Republicans US House Republicans are calling for arms-sale-style congressional oversight of artificial intelligence (AI) chip exports as US President Donald Trump’s administration moves to approve licenses for Nvidia Corp to ship its H200 processor to China. US Representative Brian Mast, the Republican chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, which oversees export controls, on Friday introduced a bill dubbed the AI Overwatch Act that would require the US Congress to be notified of AI chips sales to adversaries. Any processors equal to or higher in capabilities than Nvidia’s H20 would be subject to oversight, the draft bill says. Lawmakers would have