E-COMMERCE
Revenue soars to NT$3.54tn
The nation’s e-commerce sector saw revenue soar 73.8 percent between 2011 and 2016 to NT$3.54 trillion (US$118 billion) because of a growing range of apps and an explosion in the number of mobile devices, according to a survey conducted every five years by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS). E-commerce sales in 2016 represented about 5.8 percent of the total revenue generated by the local manufacturing and service sectors, the DGBAS said on Friday last week. The manufacturing sector accounted for 73.7 percent of total e-commerce sales in 2016, mainly through business-to-business (B2B) sales, while the service sector made up the remaining 26.3 percent, it said. B2B online transactions totaled NT$3.01 trillion in 2016, while revenue generated through business to consumers online transactions totaled NT$525.74 billion, it added.
CHIPMAKERS
Samsung overtakes Intel
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) remained the world’s third-largest integrated circuit supplier in the first quarter, as the company’s sales grew 13 percent to US$8.47 billion from a year earlier, according to IC Insights. Samsung Electronics Co replaced Intel Corp as the world’s biggest semiconductor supplier in the first quarter after its sales rose 43 percent year-on-year to US$19.40 billion, ahead of Intel’s US$15.83 billion, IC Insights said. SK Hynix Inc and Micron Technology Inc ranked fourth and fifth with sales of US$8.14 billion and US$7.36 billion respectively, followed by Broadcom Inc (US$4.59 billion), Qualcomm Inc (US$3.90 billion), Toshiba Corp (US$3.83 billion), Texas Instruments Inc (US$3.57 billion) and Nvidia Inc (US$3.11 billion), it said.
FOOTWEAR
Shui-Mu back in the black
Shui-Mu International Co Ltd (阿瘦實業), which markets and retails own-brand footwear, swung into a profit in the first quarter of this year thanks to efforts to adjust its brands, which helped improve its product mix and led to better profitability. The company, which sells footwear under its brands A.S.O. and BESO, as well as producing footwear for foreign brands, said last week its net profit was NT$11.59 million in the first quarter, or earnings per share of NT$0.17, compared with a net loss of NT$38.41 million a year earlier. Cumulative sales in the first four months totaled NT$564.09 million, up 2.16 percent year-on-year, it said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Enimmune to trial vaccine
Enimmune Corp, a 51 percent-owned subsidiary of vaccine maker Adimmune Corp (國光生技), yesterday announced that it has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to commence multinational phase III clinical trials of its enterovirus 71 vaccine. Enimmune said that it expects to gain marketing approval for the vaccine from the regulator by 2020.
ENERGY
CPC signs battery deal
State-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) yesterday inked a memorandum of understanding with Japan’s TDK and Taiwanese battery and charging network developer Eternalergy (碩城科技) to form a joint venture to develop batteries for electric scooters. The two Taiwanese companies are expected to take a controlling stake in the subsidiary, with CPC to hold a majority 49 percent stake, the state-run company said. CPC said that it plans to supply lithium titanate and other materials, and build batteries based on TDK’s research to tap Southeast Asian markets.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
A TAIWAN DEAL: TSMC is in early talks to fully operate Intel’s US semiconductor factories in a deal first raised by Trump officials, but Intel’s interest is uncertain Broadcom Inc has had informal talks with its advisers about making a bid for Intel Corp’s chip-design and marketing business, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Nothing has been submitted to Intel and Broadcom could decide not to pursue a deal, according to the Journal. Bloomberg News earlier reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is in early talks for a controlling stake in Intel’s factories at the request of officials at US President Donald Trump’s administration, as the president looks to boost US manufacturing and maintain the country’s leadership in critical technologies. Trump officials raised the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
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