MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation's top handset chip designer, said yesterday its fourth quarter net income dropped 46.7 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$6.31 billion. The figure was down by 5.6 percent from a year earlier.
Revenue was NT$20.38 billion, which dropped by 23.6 percent from the previous quarter but rose 35 percent from the same period of last year, the company said at a teleconference yesterday.
The firm's outlook for the first quarter, however, would remain conservative owing to the US subprime mortgage crisis and the winter storms in China that were preventing people from traveling home to visit their families, thus depressing sales of mobile phones bought as gifts, company president Hsieh Ching-chiang (
He forecasted that revenue during the first quarter would see a slight decline as opposed to the 23.6 percent quarter-on-quarter decline in the fourth quarter.
MediaTek forecast a 10 percent to 20 percent drop in its handset integrated chip shipments in the first quarter as the industry is still digesting inventory. Overall, the company's gross margin may shrink 1 percent to 2 percent from 54.7 percent in the fourth quarter as the result of price competition, Hsieh said.
Eric Chen (
Despite the fact that MediaTek attributed the high operating expenses last quarter to royalties, Chen said he suspected that rising personnel expenses were the main reason behind the 71 percent quarter-on-quarter increase in MediaTek's research and development budget.
Chen said MediaTek's projection of a 10 percent to 20 percent decline in handset chip shipments and a decrease of 15 percent to 20 percent quarter-on-quarter in revenue is close to the market estimation.
Chen provided a buy recommendation on MediaTek shares, which have dropped 19.96 percent since the beginning of the year and closed at NT$337 yesterday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
In the long term, Chen maintained a positive view on MediaTek because he believed the inventory adjustment in China would be completed soon and the company's plan to launch a new range of handset/TV products was on schedule.
MediaTek's gross profit fell by 26.8 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$11.15 billion in the fourth quarter, as a result of the high operating expenses related to the acquisition of Analog Devices Inc (ADI).
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS