Business and Finance

Hon Hai and Pegatron report record-high sales

Taipei Times
Date:  Sep 11, 2015　
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

Apple Inc’s iPhone main assemblers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday reported the highest August sales in their histories, with both expecting sales for this month to continue expanding on the back of new iPhone models.

Hon Hai said consolidated sales last month rose 6.48 percent to NT$292.91 billion (US$89.1 billion) from a year earlier, pushing cumulative sales in the first eight months of this year to NT$2.59 trillion, up 12.81 percent from a year earlier.

However, sales dropped 6.17 percent from July due to product transition, Hon Hai said.

“Sales in the consumer electronics segment declined from a month earlier, while the communication and computing segments remained flat from July,” a company official who declined to be named said by telephone.

Other than the iPhone assembling business, Hon Hai is widely believed to be the main supplier for Apple’s new iPad Pro tablet.

A source in the company said Hon Hai would begin shipping the new iPad in November from its plant in Chengdu, China.

The source said revenue would grow month-by-month in the remainder of this year to achieve record-high annual revenue this year.

In June, Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) said the company’s sales could grow 10 percent from last year’s NT$4.12 trillion.     [FULL  STORY]

PayPal Stops Domestic Payments in Taiwan

newsBTC
Date: September 9, 2015
By: Nuno Menezes

PayPal, the world’s primary method of online payment as just announced it was stopping online domestic payments in Taiwan.

Today the online payment company issued a notice to its Taiwan customers announcing it was stopping domestic transactions in the Island. The company argued that this decision was made to comply with local laws and regulations.

PayPal announcement stated:

“Dear customers,

We’ll be streamlining our services in Taiwan, and our system will be enhanced to ensure that domestic commercial payments will not be processed, in compliance with local laws and regulations.

These changes will take effect from September 21, 2015, and you will not be able to use your PayPal account registered in Taiwan to send payments to, or receive payments from, other PayPal accounts registered in Taiwan. Please note that you will still be able to receive payments from international sales and trading, as well as make payments for purchases of goods or services from overseas merchants.

We sincerely apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. We will continue to enhance our platform and improve our services to serve your needs.”

Early this week, the online payment service announced it was stepping out of Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican government issued a law that forces all peer-to-peer transactions to be taxable at a 2% rate. This decision was motivated by a Puerto Rican government attempt to impose capital controls.

Even though PayPal is stopping domestic payments, the company will still host international payments and support international trading in Taiwan.

Taiwan will be left with a lack of options to fulfill domestic payments, but this gap might motivate companies working with digital currencies to step up and fill the void left by PayPal.     [FULL  STORY]

HTC removed from Taiwan’s top 50 index after share price drops

TechSpot
Date: September 9, 2015
By: Rob Thubron

Smartphone maker HTC is to be removed from the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s TWSE Taiwan 50 2015-09-09-image-6index following the company’s dwindling market share and plummeting stock price.

In June, HTC said that its second-quarter revenues had halved from the same period last year, resulting in an operating loss of $155 million. This was followed by an announcement in August that it would lay off 15 percent of its workforce and cut operating costs by 35 percent, as it reported its lowest monthly revenue in almost a decade.

Founded in 1997 and once one the biggest names in the smartphone market, HTC has struggled financially in recent years. The company’s global smartphone market share has dropped from 10.7 percent in 2011 to around 2 percent today. And while its flagship One M9 gained generally good reviews, it wasn’t a huge upgrade from its predecessor and fell short when compared to the best Samsung and Apple had to offer, leading to lower than expected sales.

Some have pointed to HTC not being able to compete with the massive advertising budgets of the market leaders as one of the reasons behind its current situation; the $60 million Samsung spent on its launch campaign for the Galaxy S6 was the equivalent of HTC’s entire annual marketing budget. There’s also been the issue of Chinese manufacturers such as Xiaomi and Lenovo putting pressure on HTC’s lower-range smartphones.     [FULL  STORY]

Premier eying bio, information tech. sectors as new growth drivers

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/09
By: M.J. Lin and Lillian Lin

Taipei, Sept. 9 (CNA) Permier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said Wednesday that he expects the 201509090034t0001biotechnology and the information technology sectors to work together to become the new engine of the economy.

Speaking at a meeting of the Cabinet’s Bio Taiwan Committee (BTC), Mao projected that the production value of the bio sector alone will reach NT$3 trillion (approximately US$91.7 billion) by 2020.

Cooperation between the bio sector and the electronics and information industries is the key to stimulating Taiwan’s economic growth, Mao said on the last day of the three-day BTC meeting, which was held to discuss the development of industries related to bioeconomy.

The meeting focused on five main bio sectors, namely pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, health care, food processing and agriculture.     [FULL  STORY]

Digital Taipei trade show to feature gaming, virtual reality apps

Want China News
Date: 2015-09-09
By: CNA

The Taipei International Digital Content Summit and Fair, also known as Digital Taipei, opened

A visitor plays a virtual reality video game at Digital Taipei 2015, Sept. 8. (Photo/CNA)

A visitor plays a virtual reality video game at Digital Taipei 2015, Sept. 8. (Photo/CNA)

Tuesday to showcase gaming and virtual reality applications as well as renowned speakers from the industry.

The two-day trade show has attracted 126 international buyers from 21 countries and regions, who are expected to participate in one-on-one meetings with around 100 Taiwanese companies and developers, said Leu Jang-hwa, deputy director-general of the Industrial Development Bureau, which organizes the event.

“We are aiming to help local companies go global through exchanges at the show,” Leu said at the inauguration ceremony.     [FULL  STORY]

Asustek cuts notebook shipment target

PROFIT FIRST:The computer manufacturer said it was reducing shipments to some emerging markets not due to soft demand, but because of foreign exchange volatility

Taipei Times
Date: , Sep 10, 2015
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday cut its notebook computer shipment forecast for this quarter, saying it is reducing sales exposure to some emerging markets in a bid to prevent possible foreign-exchange losses due to currency volatility.

The company forecast that its notebook shipments would grow 6.04 percent sequentially to 4.56 million units from the previous quarter’s 4.3 million units. That compares with its previous estimate of an 11.62 percent increase to 4.8 million units.

“The decision to cut shipments to some regions was not due to soft demand, but because of drastic changes in foreign currencies in the middle of last month,” Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) said by telephone.

“Maintaining profitability is the company’s top priority,” he added.

Asustek in July slashed its full-year shipment target for notebook computers from 22.8 million units to 20 million amid concern over weak demand in the PC market.

Wu declined to respond to questions over whether Asustek would revise downward its annual notebook shipment target again. n    [FULL  STORY]

U.S. data shows continuing decline in HTC, Samsung market shares

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/07
By: Jeffrey Wu

Taipei, Sept. 7 (CNA) Taiwan’s HTC Corp. (宏達電) and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Co. became the only two top-tier smartphone vendors in the United States that registered falling market shares in the three months ended in July.

According to a report published on Sept. 3 by research firm comScore Inc., HTC remained the fifth-largest smartphone vendor in the U.S. with a 3.5 percent share from May to July, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous three-month period.

Samsung saw its market share drop by 1.3 percentage points — the sharpest decline among the top five players — to 27.3 percent, ranking the company in second behind only Apple Inc., which expanded its market share by 1.1 percentage points to 44.2 percent.      [FULL  STORY]

HTC edges Samsung in Japan’s customer satisfaction rankings

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-07
By: CNA

Despite shrinking sales and job cuts, Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC still hit a high note in Japan’s customer satisfaction rankings, beating most other Android phone makers, including Samsung.

The rankings, released Sept. 4 by market research firm Oricon, reveal that Apple had the highest satisfaction in Japan’s smartphone market, with an overall score of 72.85, followed by Sony Mobile (71.36 points), Fujitsu (69.47 points), HTC (69.19 points), Samsung (68.77 points), Sharp (68.69 points), LG Electronics (67.16 points) and Kyocera (66.65 points).

Oricon surveyed a total of 12 smartphone makers that sold products in Japan in 2013 and 2014. The survey, which received 18,847 valid samples, is based on seven categories: quality of connection, product operability, product design, product performance, camera functions, integrity of features and reliability of company.     [FULL  STORY]

Fuel prices to rise on crude oil rebound

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/06
By: Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 6 (CNA) Domestic gasoline and diesel retail prices will rise by 201509060012t0001NT$1 (US$0.03) and NT$1.2 per liter, respectively, at midnight, the biggest rise in nearly seven months, the state-owned CPC Corp., Taiwan (中油) said Sunday.

After the planned adjustment, the new prices will be NT$21.3 per liter for super diesel, NT$23.4 per liter for 92 octane unleaded gasoline, NT$24.9 per liter for 95 octane unleaded and NT$26.9 per liter for 98 octane unleaded, the company announced.

It noted that the adjustment came after a recent technical rebound in international crude oil prices.     [FULL  STORY]

Rising China high-tech sector threatens Taiwan: S&P affiliate

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-06
By: CNA

An emerging high-tech sector in China poses a growing threat to its rivals,

The Mi 4 from China's leading smartphone maker Xiaomi. (File photo/China Times)

The Mi 4 from China’s leading smartphone maker Xiaomi. (File photo/China Times)

including Taiwan, according to Taiwan Ratings, a local partner of Standard & Poor’s.

The credit ratings agency said in particular that mobile device and flat panel makers in other Asian countries are expected to face relatively higher hurdles erected by China, which has devoted itself to cultivating its own supply chain for the country’s high-tech sector in a bid to lower dependence upon imports.

Taiwan Ratings said that the rapid growth of China’s technology industry does not bode well for the prospects for high-tech firms in other countries in Asia in the long term, although Asian competitors outside China are expected not to feel a significant pinch over the next two years.     [FULL  STORY]