The nation's chip industry is expected to grow another 5 percent to NT$252.2 billion during the second quarter, led by foundry suppliers buoyed by ongoing strong demand for consumer electronics like DVD players, a local semiconductor industry association said yesterday.
"Taiwanese chipmakers have bucked the traditional slow season in the first quarter driven by robust demand for consumer electronics," said Hsieh Tong-ho (謝東和), an analyst with the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association (TSIA, 台灣半導體協會).
"We believe the growth momentum will carry into the current quarter," Hsieh added.
In the first three months of the year, the nation's chip industry grew a robust 42.5 percent to NT$240.2 billion from a year go, TSIA said in a statement. That represents a 2.2 percent rise quarter on quarter. The year-on-year increase in the global chip industry exceeded the growth of about 30 percent predicted by international researcher World Semiconductor Trade Statistics, which closely tracks the world's semiconductor sales.
During the April-June period, foundry suppliers are expected to lead the growth by climbing 15 percent to NT$99.9 billion compared to the first quarter.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manuf-acturing Co (TSMC,
In the first month of the second quarter, TSMC reported a record high of NT$20.63 billion in sales last month due to rising wafer shipments. The chipmaker said it is increasing its output to meet customers' needs. Hsieh warned that the strong growth enjoyed by made-to-order chipmakers will not spread across the board.
"Local manufacturers of computer memory chips may see a setback due to falling chip prices," he added.
Over the past 20 days, the spot price of standard 256Mb/400MHz dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips plunged about 23 percent to about US$4.98 per chip from the peak of US$6.52 in early April, according to figures provided by the Web site DRAMeXchange.
DRAMeXchange said it did not expect the price to rebound soon.
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