MANUFACTURERS
Sercomm revenue rises
Telecom equipment maker Sercomm Corp (中磊) yesterday posted revenue of NT$3.78 billion (US$135.65 million) for last month, the second-highest monthly figure in the company’s history. Revenue rose 4 percent year-on-year from NT$3.64 billion and was up 6 percent from NT$3.58 billion in September. Sercomm attributed the growth to continuing broadband demand due to Taiwan’s COVID-19 situation. In the first 10 months of the year, its cumulative revenue expanded about 18 percent annually to NT$34.48 billion from NT$29.16 billion. Sercomm said it has good order visibility to support further revenue growth as demand from customers in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, India and emerging markets increases.
TECHNOLOGY
TPK Holdings sales sink
TPK Holdings Inc (宸鴻), a supplier of touch sensors and modules, yesterday said revenue plunged 14.9 percent last month to NT$6.57 billion, compared with NT$7.71 billion in the same month last year. On a monthly basis, revenue dipped 19.2 percent from NT$8.12 billion. Revenue this quarter would likely drop between 5 and 10 percent from last quarter as the industry enters its slow season, the company said. In the first 10 months of this year, TPK accumulated NT$85.51 billion in revenue, down 11.67 percent from NT$96.81 billion in the same period last year.
TECHNOLOGY
Compeq credits demand
Compeq Manufacturing Co (華通), which produces multilayer and double-sided printed circuit boards, yesterday said that seasonal demand allowed it to report stronger-than-expected net profit of NT$1.57 billion in the third quarter, up 90 percent year-on-year. Earnings per share were NT$1.31, Compeq said. Consolidated revenue of NT$17.55 billion last quarter was the second-highest on record, while gross margin was 18.66 percent, it said. In the first three quarters of this year, net profit was NT$3.11 billion and earnings per share were NT$2.61. Compeq said that its order outlook remains intact for this quarter, despite market speculation about potential softness in end product demand.
COMPUTERS
Acer profit rises 32%
PC vendor Acer Inc (宏碁) on Wednesday reported net profit for last quarter was the highest in 11 years, despite supply chain disruptions and logistics bottlenecks. Net profit for the three months to September grew 32 percent year-on-year to NT$3.02 billion, or earnings per share of NT$1.01. Consolidated revenue grew 1.3 percent to NT$81.14 billion from a year earlier, while gross margin gained 1 percentage point to 11.5 percent, Acer said. Net profit in the first three quarters of the year was NT$8.66 billion, or earnings per share of NT$2.88, both twice as much as the same period last year, it said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Medigen first doses given
Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗) yesterday said it has administered first doses to all 1,030 participants in its phase 3 clinical trial in Paraguay for its COVID-19 vaccine. The company plans to give participants the second doses after a 28-day interval, Medigen said. Fourteen days after the second shot, it would take blood samples to conduct an immunobridging study, the company said. The participants had been divided into two groups, one receiving the Medigen vaccine and the other the AstraZeneca vaccine, and their antibody levels and other protection-related gauges would be compared, it said.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
A start-up in Mexico is trying to help get a handle on one coastal city’s plastic waste problem by converting it into gasoline, diesel and other fuels. With less than 10 percent of the world’s plastics being recycled, Petgas’ idea is that rather than letting discarded plastic become waste, it can become productive again as fuel. Petgas developed a machine in the port city of Boca del Rio that uses pyrolysis, a thermodynamic process that heats plastics in the absence of oxygen, breaking it down to produce gasoline, diesel, kerosene, paraffin and coke. Petgas chief technology officer Carlos Parraguirre Diaz said that in
CHIP WAR: Tariffs on Taiwanese chips would prompt companies to move their factories, but not necessarily to the US, unleashing a ‘global cross-sector tariff war’ US President Donald Trump would “shoot himself in the foot” if he follows through on his recent pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese and other foreign semiconductors entering the US, analysts said. Trump’s plans to raise tariffs on chips manufactured in Taiwan to as high as 100 percent would backfire, macroeconomist Henry Wu (吳嘉隆) said. He would “shoot himself in the foot,” Wu said on Saturday, as such economic measures would lead Taiwanese chip suppliers to pass on additional costs to their US clients and consumers, and ultimately cause another wave of inflation. Trump has claimed that Taiwan took up to
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
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