Taiwan’s listed manufacturing companies accelerated their research and development (R&D) spending last year to a record high NT$692.7 billion (US$21.4 billion), despite declines in sales and profits, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The spending was up 2.9 percent from NT$673 billion a year earlier, driven mainly by expenditures by those in the electronic parts, computer products and optical components industries, the ministry said in a statement.
Companies in the electronic components sector spent NT$450.7 billion on R&D last year, up 2.2 percent year-on-year and accounting for 65.1 percent of overall spending, while those in the computer products and optical components sector spent NT$158 billion, up 4 percent from the previous year and contributing 22.8 percent to the total, the ministry said.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
In terms of individual companies, global foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) topped its local peers with R&D spending of NT$178.7 billion, up 11.1 percent from the previous year and accounting for 25.8 percent of total spending, the ministry said.
Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) came in second with spending of NT$80.6 billion and networking chip designer Realtek Semiconductor Corp (瑞昱) was in third place at NT$20.1 billion, it said.
The data compiled by the ministry showed that the 1,101 manufacturing firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange — excluding overseas Taiwanese businesses with a primary listing in Taiwan — were still developing technologies to maintain their leading edge in the market, even though sales and profits decreased from the previous year.
The firms last year reported combined net sales of NT$18.88 trillion, down 10.7 percent year-on-year, while their overall operating profits decreased 26.4 percent to NT$1.49 trillion, with operating margin dropping 1.7 percentage points to 7.9 percent, the ministry said.
The setback was mainly due to headwinds facing the electronic components, the computer products and optical components, the chemical materials and fertilizer, and the petroleum and coal products sectors, it said.
Among the firms, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) garnered the highest sales of NT$3.45 trillion last year, followed by TSMC’s NT$2.15 trillion and Pegatron Corp’s (和碩) NT$1.18 trillion.
TSMC posted the highest operating profit of NT$907.4 billion, ahead of United Microelectronics Corp’s (聯電) NT$48.7 billion and MediaTek’s NT$42.3 billion.
With slowing growth momentum, investments in fixed assets by the listed manufacturing firms fell 20.9 percent year-on-year to NT$1.2 trillion last year, as a significant decline in investment by the electronic components industry offset higher outlays by the chemical materials and fertilizer, and the petroleum and coal products sectors, the ministry said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
RSS