Siemens AG saw orders largely stagnate in the fiscal first quarter as factory-automation purchases in China more than halved, offsetting gains in other units.
Orders plummeted 31 percent from a year earlier for the digital industries division, mainly driven by weaker private consumption in China, the company said yesterday. Siemens left its outlook for the unit and the overall group unchanged and said it sees the Chinese economy recovering later this year.
“The Chinese market is still very slow,” Siemens chief executive officer Roland Busch said. “We hope that we will see a pick-up in China in the second half of the year.”
Photo: REUTERS
Siemens and the rest of the industrial sector are grappling with weaker demand in China, where consumers and businesses have cut back on spending amid rising inflation and interest rates. The company expects China’s economy to recover in the second half of the year with the government’s push to boost high-tech manufacturing.
In recent years, Siemens has revamped its business to focus on software-driven product lines with higher profitability levels, and Busch has said Siemens could target larger acquisitions in that area this year. The company is also pursuing plans for an initial public offering or divestment of heavy-duty electric-motor manufacturer Innomotics, valued at roughly 3 billion euros (US$3.2 billion).
Siemens’ mobility unit saw orders nearly double from the same period a year earlier, largely due to two orders in Austria totaling 1.3 billion euros from existing agreements for delivery of trains.
Net income attributable to shareholders came in at 2.39 billion euros in the last quarter, boosted by a one-off 500 million euros gain from the transfer of an 8 percent stake in Siemens Energy AG to Siemens Pension-Trust e.V.
Some shareholders have urged Siemens to unload its stake in Siemens Energy, as the company posted massive losses from faulty wind turbines. Siemens said the transfer means it no longer has significant influence over Siemens Energy, and the investment is not expected to impact earnings per share going forward.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
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
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
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
RSS