ELECTRONICS
Hon Hai pay date unveiled
Key iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said it plans to distribute a cash dividend to shareholders on July 28. At the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday last week, shareholders approved the company’s proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$5.3 per common share based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$10.21. The company is expected to distribute a total of NT$73.47 billion (US$2.39 billion) in dividends this year, with company founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) likely to receive NT$9.23 billion in dividend income as he owns about 1.74 billion shares.
ELECTRONICS
HTC sales up almost 20%
Smartphone maker HTC Corp’s (宏達電) consolidated sales for last month rose 19.67 percent month-on-month and 18.28 percent year-on-year to NT$359 million, the company said yesterday. As the company has managed to diversify its product mix and develop its virtual reality business to take the pressure off its lackluster smartphone sales, revenue for the first five months of the year grew 1.11 percent year-on-year to NT$1.64 billion. Analysts attributed the improvement in sales to the contribution from the company’s virtual reality headset Vive XR Elite, which it launched in late February.
TELECOMS
Sercomm sales up 9.1%
Sercomm Corp (中磊電子), which supplies telecommunications and broadband equipment, yesterday reported that consolidated sales for last month grew 9.1 percent to NT$5.02 billion from NT$4.6 billion a year earlier. Last month’s figure was the best May performance in the company’s history. The company attributed the increase to governments around the world investing in infrastructure construction, which has continued to drive demand for networking equipment. From January to last month, cumulative sales totaled NT$26.18 billion, up 18.1 percent from NT$22.16 billion for the same period last year, the company said in a statement.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Sigurd sees demand pickup
Chip testing and packaging services provider Sigurd Microelectronics Corp (矽格) yesterday reported that consolidated sales for last month rose 1.07 percent month-on-month, but declined 30.85 percent year-on-year to NT$1.21 billion. The company said last month’s sales were in line with expectations, adding that demand is expected to recover in the second half of the year as orders are slowly picking up. Sales in the first five months decreased 24.84 percent year-on-year to NT$6.03 billion, it said. Sigurd is to hold its annual general meeting today, at which shareholders are to vote on the company’s proposed cash dividend of NT$4.2 per common share.
MACHINERY
Hiwin bullish about Q3
Machinery maker Hiwin Technologies Co (上銀科技) posted revenue of NT$2.22 billion for last month, down 19.31 percent from a year earlier, the company said yesterday. On a monthly basis, revenue rose 2.98 percent due to more working days last month, it said. Cumulative revenue for the first five months of the year decreased 22.63 percent year-on-year to NT$10.1 billion, said the company, which makes ball screws and linear guideways. Hiwin’s order visibility has extended to three to four months from two months in the fourth quarter of last year, and its revenue growth is expected to turn positive from the third quarter of this year amid an upcycle.
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
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
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
SUBSIDIES: The nominee for commerce secretary indicated the Trump administration wants to put its stamp on the plan, but not unravel it entirely US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency in charge of a US$52 billion semiconductor subsidy program declined to give it unqualified support, raising questions about the disbursement of funds to companies like Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). “I can’t say that I can honor something I haven’t read,” Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, said of the binding CHIPS and Science Act awards in a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. “To the extent monies have been disbursed, I would commit to rigorously enforcing documents that have been signed by those companies to make sure we get
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