Foxlink, Ji-Haw to mass supply Xbox 360 connectors in A..

Two Taiwan companies, Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co. (Foxlink) and Ji-Haw Industrial Co., Ltd., have won orders for connectors used on the new-generation game consoles Xbox 360 from Microsoft of the U.S.

Foxlink will start delivering Xbox 360 connectors in August. The firm’s chairman T.C. Gou claimed that his company does not rule out venturing into game-console assembly business in the future.

Ji-Haw said that it has poured NT$90 million (US$2.84 million at US$1: NT$31.7) into establishing a new production line of Xbox connectors, which will be ready for mass production in August.

Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 in May, earlier than Sony's launch of PS3, in a bid to attract more buyers.

Both the two companies are expected to hand out brilliant business results this year due to the booming consumer-electronic market the world over. Ji-Haw reported pretax earnings of NT$84.57 million (US$2.67 million) in the first five months this year, shooting up 200% from the same period of last year and translating into earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.83 (US$0.03).

Foxlink posted revenue of NT$10.5 billion (US$331.23 million) in the first half of the year, and the revenue for the second half is expected to rise sharply to NT$19.5 billion (US$615.14 million) in the second half due to increasing shipments of connectors for game consoles, MP3 players and new-model cell phones. Foxlink aims to challenge an annual revenue of NT$30 billion (US$946.37 million) this year.

Guo said that the Xbox 360 uses more wireless communication modules at higher unit prices, than its Xbox predecessor, so such business would contribute higher revenue than that of Xbox.

Foxlink now supplies connectors for cell-phone models to Motorola and Sony Ericsson and has won a new order from Nokia this year. The company also stepped into cell-phone assembly business in a bid to expand production of cell-phone connectors. Guo claimed that the integration of a company's parts-supply and system assembly is a new development trend, adding that his company won’t rule out venturing into game-console assembly in the future.

After a series of efforts in boosting the production ratio for consumer-electronic connectors, Ji-Haw's revenue saw a sharp growth in the first five months. The firm’s revenue came to NT$553 million (US$17.44 million) for the period, up 46.7% from one year earlier.