Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday said its consolidated sales for last month increased both from the prior month and the previous year.
Revenue reached NT$17.44 billion (US$588 million) last month, rising 4.3 percent from NT$16.72 billion in April and 11.5 percent from NT$15.64 billion in May last year, the Greater Kaohsiung-based company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Sales generated by its core business — chip packaging and testing — hit a record high last month at NT$12.41 billion, up 6.3 percent month-on-month and 12.2 percent year-on-year, the company said.
ASE did not provide a revenue guidance for this month. However, Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Chou (周立中) said the company’s packaging and testing revenue could continue growing by 1 to 3 percent this month from last month and by 13 percent this quarter from last quarter.
The company said in April that it expected its packaging and testing revenue for this quarter to increase by 11 to 14 percent from last quarter, driven by the communications sector.
From January to last month, ASE’s accumulated revenue totaled NT$82.35 billion, an increase of 11.88 percent from NT$73.6 billion for the same period of last year, the company said in the filing.
Meanwhile, Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密), the world’s second-biggest chip packager and tester, released a better-than-expected revenue figure for last month on Wednesday.
Revenue last month increased 4.41 percent year-on-year and 6.41 percent month-on-month to NT$5.98 billion, the highest since November 2009, the company said in a stock exchange filing.
Revenue for this quarter is likely to reach the high end of its guidance of a 20 to 25 percent sequential increase, Chou said.
“Siliconware will continue to benefit from its penetration into Qualcomm [business],” Chou said, forecasting that Qualcomm would account for 9 to 11 percent of Siliconware’s sales in the fourth quarter this year, compared with 4 to 6 percent this quarter.
In the first five months of this year, total revenue remained 3.26 percent lower than a year ago at NT$25.42 billion, Siliconware said.
ASE shares edged up 0.82 percent to NT$24.50, while SPIL rose 2.48 percent to NT$35.10.
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