CHIPMAKERS
UMC posts record revenue
United Microelectronics Co (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 3 contract chipmaker, yesterday reported record monthly revenue of NT$16.62 billion (US$584.66 million) for last month, up 14.06 percent from NT$14.57 billion a year earlier and 11.17 percent from NT$14.95 billion in February. In the first three months of this year, cumulative revenue grew 11.43 percent to NT$47.1 billion from NT$42.27 billion a year earlier, UMC said in a statement. Cumulative revenue grew 3.98 percent quarter-on-quarter, in line with the company’s forecast. Separately, Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), which supplies memory chips for Japanese gaming console maker Nintendo Co, yesterday reported that its revenue dropped 7.1 percent annually, but increased 19.8 percent monthly to NT$3.61 billion last month. The company said cumulative revenue in the first quarter was NT$9.63 billion, the best revenue for the first quarter on record.
ELECTRONICS
Yageo revenue doubles
Yageo Corp (國巨), the world’s third-largest supplier of passive components, yesterday said that its revenue more than doubled to NT$8.73 billion last month from NT$4.03 billion a year earlier and grew 24.6 percent from NT$7.01 billion in February. Yageo attributed the growth to an increase in the number of working days and healthy demand. Cumulative revenue in the first quarter soared 137 percent annually to NT$23.74 billion — the second-highest quarterly revenue in the company’s history, it said. Meanwhile, rival Walsin Technology Corp (華新科技) said that its revenue jumped 53.7 percent year-on-year and 25.7 percent month-on-month to NT$3.76 billion last month. Walsin said demand has increased due to a stay-at-home economy and cloud-computing devices. First-quarter revenue expanded 64.1 percent year-on-year to NT$10.46 billion from NT$6.37 billion.
MACHINERY
Parts makers beat forecasts
The performance of makers of industrial automation components beat market expectations last month, with linear-motion component suppliers, such as Hiwin Technologies Co (上銀科技), and pneumatic parts makers, such as Airtac International Group (亞德客), reporting record revenues. Hiwin yesterday posted revenue of NT$2.16 billion, up 15.79 percent month-on-month and 59.22 percent year-on-year, while Airtac’s revenue was NT$2.39 billion, up 69.34 percent month-on-month and 37.58 percent year-on-year, regulatory filings showed. In the first quarter, Hiwin’s revenue totaled NT$5.99 billion, up 65.8 percent from a year earlier and the highest for the January-to-March quarter, while Airtac’s revenue was NT$5.93 billion, up 87.89 percent and also a record.
PHARMACEUTICALS
EirGenix, Hong Wei ink pact
EirGenix Inc (台康生技) on Tuesday signed a letter of intent with Hong Wei Investment Co (鋐維股份) to sell 55 million new common shares via a private placement for NT$5.04 billion, the pharmaceuticals firm said in a statement. The deal would allow Hong Wei to secure an 18.56 percent stake in EirGenix and become the largest shareholder of the company, the statement said. EirGenix, a contract development and manufacturing organization and biosimilars maker, said that the deal is conducive to its long-term development as it would help enhance the company’s operating efficiency and bolster its competitiveness. The main shareholder of Hong Wei is Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) founder Terry Gou (郭台銘).
WALKING AWAY: At one point the world’s No. 3 smartphone brand, LG has fallen from a position as a market leader after a series of software and hardware mishaps South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc is to wind down its loss-making mobile division after failing to find a buyer, a move that would make it the first major smartphone brand to completely withdraw from the market. Its decision to pull out will leave its 10 percent share in North America, where it is the No. 3 brand, to be gobbled up by Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc with its domestic rival expected to have the edge. “In the United States, LG has targeted mid-priced — if not ultra-low — models and that means Samsung, which has more mid-priced product lines than
SPECULATION: The integrated house and land transaction income tax has been amended as the real-estate market heats up because of high liquidity and low interest rates Lawmakers across party lines yesterday agreed to July 1 as the provisional date on which a draft amendment to the Income Tax Act (所得稅法) is to come into effect, with the aim of curbing real-estate speculation. The consensus was reached following interparty negotiations at the legislature’s Finance Committee to determine when revisions to the “integrated house and land transaction income tax” would take effect. The committee on Monday last week passed a number of revisions to the act, but failed to agree on when they would take effect. Under the proposed revisions, the tax would be set at 45 percent
TAICHUNG PLANT: An official said that generator No. 3 had been retrofitted and it generates 0.46g of particulate pollution per kilowatt-hour, down from 0.6g to 0.7g A spike in demand for electricity made it necessary to restart the third coal-fired generator at the Taichung Power Plant, Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said yesterday as a feud with the Taichung City Government lingers. Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) has sought to keep the generator from being used. In 2019, he revoked Taipower’s license to operate the generator. However, the state-run utility has taken the city government to court over the license revocation and won the case in February last year, Taipower manager Chang Ting-shu (張廷抒) said. “We would like to remind the Taichung City Government that operation of the third
Several hundred people have already booked their tickets and begun training for a spectacular voyage: a few minutes, or perhaps days, in the weightlessness of space. The mainly wealthy first-time space travelers are preparing to take part in one of several private missions which are preparing to launch. The era of space tourism is on the horizon 60 years after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space. Two companies, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin LLC, are building spacecraft capable of sending private clients on suborbital flights to the edge of space lasting several minutes. Glenn King is the director of
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