Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) said yesterday that earnings shrank 6 percent in the second quarter as an unfavorable foreign exchange rate eroded gross profit margins.
The world’s top chip packager also said it expects weaker-than-forecasted growth this quarter because of global economic weakness.
Hsinchu-based ASE plans to reduce spending on new equipment this year by around 22 percent to US$350 million from its estimate of US$450 million.
During the quarter ending June 30, net income fell to NT$2.41 billion (US$78 million), or NT$0.44 per share, compared with NT$2.56 billion a year earlier, the company said.
ASE gave a conservative outlook for the current quarter yesterday, saying customers have huge inventories as the weakening global economy had reduced demand.
“The growth strength will be weaker this year than last year,” ASE financial executive Joseph Tung (董宏思) told an investor’s conference.
This quarter revenues may increase by low single digit percent, from NT$25.61 billion last quarter, versus the average double-digit percent growth in the traditionally high season, Tung said.
“Inventory problem is more evident for customers in wireless and communications segments,” Tung said.
Customers said they might spend one or two quarters to digest their stockpiles, he said.
Handset chipmakers Broadcom Corp, Freescale Semiconductor and MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest handset chip supplier, are among ASE’s top five customers.
Communications made up the biggest share, or about 45 percent, of ASE’s revenues of NT$25.61 billion last quarter.
“ASE’s outlook disappoints me. The company’s revenue growth rate is lower than my expectations,” said Kenneth Lee (李克揚), a semiconductor analyst with Primasia Securities in Taipei.
Lee had predicted a 10 percent revenue increase this quarter compared to the first quarter.
However, Tung said ASE believes revenues will grow in the final quarter, against the downtrend of the overall semiconductor industry.
He did not explain further.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”