CHEMICALS
Swancor reports a net loss
Materials manufacturer and wind farm developer Swancor Holding Co Ltd (上緯) yesterday reported a net loss of NT$6 million (US$201,626) for last month, down 109 percent from a year earlier, with net losses per share of NT$0.07. However, revenue rose 32 percent year-on-year to NT$487 million, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. In the first quarter, net losses expanded to NT$42 million, or net losses per share of NT$0.47, while total revenue rose 22.63 percent to NT$1.15 billion, the filing showed. The market regulator requested that Swancor disclose its latest financial figures amid stock price fluctuations and after it closed down by the daily limit at NT$136 yesterday.
SEMICONDUCTORS
WPG net income rises 2.4%
Semiconductor component distributor WPG Holdings Co (大聯大) yesterday reported that net income last quarter improved 2.4 percent quarterly to NT$1.89 billion, with earnings per share of NT$1.04. First-quarter sales rose 3.62 percent annually to NT$123.41 billion, the company said, citing growing shipments of computer, consumer electronics, communications, cloud services and automotive-related components. The company also unveiled its guidance for this quarter, forecasting that sales would reach between NT$127 billion and NT$140 billion, while operating margin would be between 1.85 and 1.98 percent, compared with 1.95 percent last quarter.
GAMING
Gamania gross margin rises
Online game publisher Gamania Digital Entertainment Co (遊戲橘子) yesterday said rising sales and an improving product mix helped increased its gross margin 7 percentage points from a year earlier to 25 percent for the first quarter. Net profit for the period surged 664 percent to NT$408 million, with earnings per share of NT$2.41, the company said. First-quarter revenue rose 119 percent to NT$4.86 billion, which the firm attributed to the growing popularity of its biggest online game, Lineage M. Gamania said contribution from Lineage M and game points distribution subsidiary Gash Co Ltd (樂點) would be major growth drivers for this quarter.
MANUFACTURING
Ichia revenue falls 6 percent
Handset keypad maker Ichia Technologies Inc (毅嘉科技) yesterday posted revenue of NT$580 million for last month, down 6 percent from March, due to a shortage of raw materials. On an annual basis, revenue rose 12 percent, it said. Last month’s revenue included about NT$457 million in sales of flexible printed circuit integrated components and about NT$125 million from mechanical integrated components, Ichia said in a filing with the stock exchange. Cumulative revenue for the first four months of the year expanded 9 percent year-on-year to NT$2.17 billion, it said.
CHIPMAKERS
TSMC fab starts operations
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) 12-inch fab in Nanjing, China, has officially started mass production and is ready for shipments of chips using its 16-nanometer process in the near term, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported, citing industry sources. The world’s largest contract chipmaker held a ground-breaking ceremony for the plant on July 7, 2016. The Nanjing facility’s first shipment was delivered to Beijing-based Bitmain Technologies Ltd (比特大陸), the world’s largest bitcoin mining organization, the newspaper said.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
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