    The world experienced huge changes. When the COVID-19 pandemic was gradually gone in 2022, the Ukrainian-Russian War brought the shortage of energy and raw materials and leading to global interest rate hikes. In 2023, the Israel-Kazakh War and the Red Sea attack broke out. Many unexpected events continued to impact the global political and economic situation.

    Fortunately, the Company has grasped the industry development trend and has a relatively solid customer base and operation structure. With the concerted efforts of the management and all employees, the consolidated revenue has continued to grow, increasing by 6.6% compared with 2022. This highlights the Company's emphasis on the operation financial performance, which ranked the first in the Company's ten material topics identified in 2023, and the results of the efforts. 

    In recent years, the world has set the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and the government has also required the TWSE/TPEx listed companies to conduct carbon inventories, and carbon reduction has also become the second material topic of the Company. In the second half of 2023, the Company began to conduct the GHG quantification at the Bao-An, Ren-De, and Sheng-Li plants, as well as company office in Changrong Road. The GHG inventories have been reported with the third-party certification. During the data collecting for carbon inventory, relevant employees realized the sources of carbon emissions and began to think about how to reduce carbon emissions.

    The EU's CBAM (carbon border adjustment mechanism) was launched on a trial basis in October 2023 requiring importers to fill out forms every quarter and will be officially implemented in 2026. Iron and steel fasteners are among the first targeted products, and in 2023, 45% of the Company's products are exported to Europe, so that many European customers have successively requested to propose the quantity of product carbon emissions, or even the 2050 net-zero path. The Company actively cooperates with customer requirements to provide declarations, in response to domestic and foreign carbon trends and requirements.

    In addition, the Company's new factory in Gueiren Industrial Zone in Tainan has started construction, and it is expected to be completed and put into production by the end of 2024. The Vietnam factory’s first phase is under construction now and is expected to be put into production line test in 2024. The completion and commencement of production of these two plants will significantly improve the existing working environment, increase production capacity, and react to the increasing requirements for carbon reduction.