Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), which assembles Apple Inc’s iPads and iPhones, yesterday reported that its consolidated revenue last month was the highest in 11 months and had increased 12.86 percent from a month earlier.
Revenue was NT$621.71 billion (US$22.43 billion), up from NT$550.89 billion in October, the company said in a statement.
Last month’s results were in line with market expectations, as the company was gearing up to assemble new iPhone models and other electronics for the year-end shopping season.
Photo: Fang Wei-jie, Taipei Times
Hon Hai is a leading electronics manufacturing service company that primarily manufactures computer hardware, handsets and networking products for major global brands. It has four main business divisions: consumer and intelligent electronics, cloud and networking technology, computing products and components.
Compared with October, Hon Hai said it benefited from robust business at its components division, followed by its consumer and intelligent electronics division, its computing products division and then its cloud and networking businesses.
On an annual basis, revenue was down 8.76 percent, Hon Hai said, adding that its components division reported the highest sales growth, ahead of the cloud and networking, computing products and consumer and intelligent electronics divisions.
The company’s revenue for last month was the second highest on record for November, Hon Hai data showed.
For the first 11 months of the year, revenue totaled NT$5.28 trillion, up 13.67 percent from NT$4.64 trillion in the same period last year and the highest on record for the period.
Last week, Bloomberg News reported that Apple had told suppliers that demand for the iPhone 13 lineup had slowed, suggesting that interest among consumers for new iPhones is declining, which could affect the US company’s suppliers in Asia.
For Hon Hai, uncertainties from tight component supply and the COVID-19 pandemic to competition from Chinese peers would remain in the near term, analysts said.
While the company has been developing electric vehicle, robot and digital healthcare businesses as potential revenue drivers, their contributions would initially be limited because of low order visibility and Hon Hai’s huge sales scale, analysts said.
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
CHANGING JAPAN: Nvidia-powered AI services over cellular networks ‘will result in an artificial intelligence grid that runs across Japan,’ Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said Softbank Group Corp would be the first to build a supercomputer with chips using Nvidia Corp’s new Blackwell design, a demonstration of the Japanese company’s ambitions to catch up on artificial intelligence (AI). The group’s telecom unit, Softbank Corp, plans to build Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer to support local services, it said. That computer would be based on Nvidia’s DGX B200 product, which combines computer processors with so-called AI accelerator chips. A follow-up effort will feature Grace Blackwell, a more advanced version, the company said. The announcement indicates that Softbank Group, which until early 2019 owned 4.9 percent of Nvidia, has secured a
TECH SECURITY: The deal assures that ‘some of the most sought-after technology on the planet’ returns to the US, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said The administration of US President Joe Biden finalized its CHIPS Act incentive awards for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), marking a major milestone for a program meant to bring semiconductor production back to US soil. TSMC would get US$6.6 billion in grants as part of the contract, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement yesterday. Though the amount was disclosed earlier this year as part of a preliminary agreement, the deal is now legally binding — making it the first major CHIPS Act award to reach this stage. The chipmaker, which is also taking up to US$5 billion