FOOD AND BEVERAGE
UPE’s net income drops
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (UPE, 統一企業), the nation’s largest food and beverage conglomerate, yesterday reported an annual decline in net income for last year, affected by lower contributions from its subsidiaries amid rising prices of raw materials and the COVID-19 pandemic. Its consolidated net profit was NT$19.88 billion (US$699.14 million) last year, down 7.7 percent from a year earlier, or earnings per share of NT$3.5, down from NT$3.79 in 2020. Consolidated revenue rose 5.9 percent year-on-year to NT$473.5 billion. Of Tainan-based UPE’s Taiwan subsidiaries, President Chain Store Corp’s (統一超商) net profit fell 13.4 percent, while Ton Yi Industrial Corp’s (統一實業) surged 101 percent from a year earlier, company data showed. Its Chinese unit, Uni-President China Holdings Ltd’s (統一中國控股) net profit dropped 7.7 percent.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Motive sets up Taipei hub
UK-based Motive Offshore Group, which specializes in the design, manufacture, rental and inspection of marine and lifting equipment, yesterday said that it has set up a renewables hub in Taipei with an operational base near the Port of Taichung. Since entering the local market in 2018, the group has played an instrumental role in the development and commissioning of offshore wind projects, as well as deploying multi-sector solutions to support the local supply chain, it said in a statement. The new facility has already resulted in the creation of 10 jobs in Taipei, it said. To enhance local trade and investment in the region, Motive has joined forces with specialist organizations V-TES Renewables and PanGeo Subsea — which are based in Aberdeen, Scotland —to establish the Subsea Cable Alliance. The alliance would consolidate a complex local trade landscape through a single partner, resulting in reduced time and costs for logistics and contractual resources while enhancing vessel uptime, Motive said.
COMPUTERS
Quanta, Compal report sales
Contract notebook computer makers Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) yesterday reported that their sales for last month were a record for February, although they were lower than the previous month, as there were fewer working days because of the Lunar New Year holiday. Revenue at Quanta decreased 10 percent month-on-month, but increased 13.2 percent year-on-year to NT$90.69 billion, the company said in a statement. It shipped 4.8 million notebook computers last month, down 1.2 million units from January. Quanta forecast that its first-quarter notebook shipments would perform better than previously, dropping less than 20 percent from a quarter earlier. Compal said in a separate statement that its sales declined 0.3 percent monthly, but rose 16.7 percent annually to NT$82.44 billion. It shipped 3.6 million laptops last month, flat from a month earlier, the company said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Vanguard’s sales jump
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) yesterday reported consolidated sales of NT$4.25 billion for last month, up 50.72 percent from NT$2.82 billion a year earlier, it said in a news release. “Due to an increase of shipments and a better product mix, net sales for February increased about 1.56 percent compared with NT$4,179 million the previous month,” Vanguard chief financial officer Amanda Huang (黃惠蘭) said in the release. Cumulative sales from January to last month increased 50.53 percent from NT$5.596 billion in the same period last year, the firm said.
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
‘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
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
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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