ELECTRONICS
Wistron posts record profit
Wistron Corp (緯創) yesterday reported record net profit of NT$5.36 billion (US$194.03 million) for last quarter, up 130.56 percent from a year earlier, or earnings per share of NT$1.93. The company’s revenue rose 13.29 percent year-on-year to NT$263.45 billion and gross margin increased 0.24 percentage points to 5.87 percent, Wistron said in a statement. Overall, the contract electronics makers reported net profit of NT$10.46 billion for last year, up 20.4 percent from 2021, after revenue grew 2 percent to NT$862.08 billion and gross margin improved 0.48 percentage points to 5.93 percent. Earnings per share stood at NT$3.76 last year, it said.
AUTO PARTS
Tong Yang profit jumps 63%
Auto parts supplier Tong Yang Industry Co (東陽實業) on Monday reported pretax profit of NT$37.14 million for last month, surging 63 percent from the same period last year. For the whole of last year, pretax profit totaled NT$758 million, down 14.35 percent from NT$885 million in 2020. Tong Yang attributed the decline in pretax profit to shortages of shipping containers and chips. Consolidated revenue rose 6.08 percent to NT$18.38 billion last year, from NT$17.32 billion a year earlier, the company said.
MANUFACTURING
Sheh Fung upbeat on exports
Sheh Fung Screws Co (世豐螺絲) is positive about business this year, as the property market remains strong in the US, which is favorable for screw exports. Screw exports to the US last year increased 25.63 percent year-on-year, while exports to Europe jumped 73.6 percent and shipments to Australia rose 6.82 percent, the firm said in a statement last week. Sheh Fung said its business prospects look bright as it is improving relationships with customers to carve a niche market for its products that encompasses all sizes of screws used on construction sites and for do-it-yourself home improvement projects. The firm reported record revenue of NT$2.86 billion for last year, a 26.89 percent increase from a year earlier.
BUILDING MATERIALS
Champion expects boost
Tile producer Champion Building Materials Co (冠軍建材) is expecting its revenue to rise by a double-digit percentage this year, in part thanks to the number of retail outlets selling its products growing to 267. The increase in sales channels is expected to translate into a 15 percent gain in annual revenue, the company said last week. Champion supplies tiles under three brands to meet demand from customers with different budgets. Taiwan accounts for 30 percent of its revenue and the company has raised prices for all of its products because of rising raw material prices and shipping costs.
ENTERTAINMENT
Podcast audience grows
The audience for podcasts produced in Taiwan last year increased 200 percent from a year earlier, podcast start-up SoundOn said in a report on Monday. On average, each podcast program saw a 160 percent year-on-year increase in listeners, and each listener donated on average NT$335, the report showed. The length of the average podcast episode is about 27 minutes, and the number of podcast programs that average 30 minutes or less per episode accounts for 62 percent of the total, it said. Most of the programs launched last year were in the society/culture and education categories, accounting for 30 percent of newly added programs in the year, it said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$7.5 billion into its US subsidiary, the Department of Investment Review said in a statement. The department approved TSMC’s application of investing in TSMC Arizona Corp, which is engaged in the manufacturing, sales, testing and design of IC and other semiconductor devices, it said. The latest capital injection follows a US$5 billion investment for TSMC Arizona approved in June. The chipmaker has broken ground on two advanced fabs in Arizona with aggregated investments approved by the department totaling US$24 billion thus far. According to TSMC, the first Arizona
The lethal hack of Hezbollah’s Asian-branded pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ path, revealing a murky market for older technologies where buyers might have few assurances about what they are getting. While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly managed, that is not the case for older electronics from Asia where counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product, analysts and consultants say. The response from the companies at the center of the booby-trapped gadgets that killed 37
FRIENDLY TAKEOVER: While Qualcomm Inc’s proposal to buy some or all of Intel raises the prospect of other competitors, Broadcom Inc is staying on the sidelines Qualcomm Inc has approached Intel Corp to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals. California-based Qualcomm proposed a friendly takeover for Intel in recent days, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The proposal is for all of the chipmaker, although Qualcomm has not ruled out buying some parts of Intel and selling off others. It is uncertain whether the initial approach would lead to an agreement and any deal is likely to come under close antitrust scrutiny
SECURITY CONCERNS: The proposed ban on Chinese autonomous vehicle software and hardware would go into effect with the 2027 and 2030 model years respectively The US Department of Commerce today is expected to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on US roads due to national security concerns, two sources said. US President Joe Biden’s administration has raised concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on US drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the Internet and navigation systems. The proposed regulation would ban the import and sale of vehicles from China with key communications or automated driving system software or hardware, said the two sources, who declined to be identified because the