Power management chip designer Integrated Memory Logic Ltd (IML), headquartered in Campbell, California, is expected to raise about NT$1.45 billion (US$4.52 million) from its initial public offering today, marking the largest amount this year, IML underwriter Yuanta Securities (元大證券) said yesterday.
IML will become the first overseas firm to launch its IPO on the nation’s main bourse. Due to excessive subscriptions, IML plans to offer a combination of 10.12 million new and existing common shares at an issue price of NT$143 per share, the underwriter said.
IML, which designs power management chips used in LCD panels, expanded revenues by 37 percent year-on-year to US$20.1 million in the first quarter of this year, Yuanta Securities said in a statement.
It did not provide comparative figures.
Gross margin stood at 56.4 percent last quarter, IML told investors.
Gross margin rose to 54.3 percent last year, from 50.6 percent in 2008, the company’s financial statement showed.
IML supplies power management chips to South Korean LCD panel makers Samsung Electronics Co and LG Display Co Ltd as well as Taiwan’s AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), among many others.
Last year, IML’s revenues jumped 62 percent to US$75.8 million from US$46.9 million in 2008, the company said. Some 57 percent of last year’s revenues came from power management chips used in LCD TV panels.
This year, IML is expected to grow its revenues by 27 percent year-on-year to NT$3.08 billion, according to a forecast by Yuanta Securities analyst George Chang (張家麒). Net profits are expected to grow 11 percent to around NT$639 million.
IML said it planned to set up a research and development center in Hsinchu after operating R&D centers in Silicon Valley, Seoul and Shanghai.
IML has worked with other chipmakers including Taiwan’s United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進).
Shares of IML’s local rivals Richtek Technology Corp (立錡) and Global Mixed-Mode Technology Inc (致新) fell by 0.68 percent and 1.78 percent to NT$292.5 and NT$165.50 respectively, yesterday.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained