Local contract chipmaker Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) yesterday posted deeper quarterly losses as the global recession hurt demand, but said it could turn around in the current quarter as orders increased amid improving demand for chips that are mostly used in netbooks and handsets from China.
The recovery may steer Vanguard to a better third quarter in terms of shipment and revenue growth, company president Leuh Feng (方略) said during his debut appearance at the quarterly investor conference. Feng assumed the post in February after his predecessor retired.
“It is not merely customers restocking demand as we saw in the first quarter. We are seeing end demand pick up, too, as economic stimulus measures by some governments such as China have spurred demand for netbooks, handsets and small-sized flat-panel TVs,” Feng said.
During the quarter ending on March 31, Vanguard’s quarterly losses widened to NT$832 million (US$25.2 million), compared with losses of NT$526 million in the fourth quarter of last year. It was Vanguard’s second straight quarterly loss after the global economic downturn started taking a toll on consumption of a wide range of electronics products in the second half of last year.
A year ago, Vanguard made NT$766 million in net income.
Revenues fell 63 percent year-on-year, or down 37 percent quarter-on-quarter, to NT$1.69 billion, with more than 40 percent coming from driver chips used in liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels.
But Vanguard is seeing demand bounce back, driven by the PC and communications sectors, Feng said.
“Business visibility is improving after a drastic inventory drawdown by [sales] channels and customers ... The supply chain has become healthier,” Feng said. “Our customers are still cautious about making orders, but they are more willing to order [now], compared with the first quarter.”
The world’s top contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the biggest shareholder and top customer of Vanguard, said on Thursday that revenues could grow more than 80 percent sequentially this quarter given rising demand for electronics across the board.
Helped by recovering demand, factory utilization may rise from 33 percent in the first quarter to approximately 60 percent this quarter, near the company’s break-even point of between 60 percent and 70 percent.
“We are likely to break even this quarter,” Feng said.
Wafer shipments are expected to more than double this quarter, from last quarter’s 106,000 8-inch wafers, the chipmaker said.
Gross margin may improve to between 5 percent and 9 percent this quarter, from negative 33 percent last quarter, and continue climbing in the second half after shipping more high-margin chips used in power management devices, the company said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last