MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s largest handset chipmaker, yesterday posted its strongest quarterly net profit in nearly three years for the second quarter, thanks to higher-than-expected demand for chips used in smartphones and tablets in China and other emerging markets.
In the quarter ending June 30, the company’s net profit surged almost 80 percent to NT$6.72 billion (US$223 million), compared with NT$3.74 billion in the previous quarter. Last quarter’s profit was the highest since the third quarter of 2010, and represented 83 percent growth from NT$3.67 billion in the same period last year.
The firm’s growth momentum is set to extend into this quarter, supported by sales of new smartphone and tablet chips, including a quad-core tablet chip, before an expected seasonal decline next quarter, MediaTek said.
“In the third quarter [of this year], all the firm’s major products will sustain growth momentum,” company president Hsieh Ching-jiang (謝清江) told an investors’ conference.
Revenue is forecast to grow by between 5 percent and 13 percent to between NT$34.9 billion and NT$37.6 billion this quarter, compared with NT$33.28 billion last quarter, Hsieh forecast. Smartphone and tablet products accounted for about 55 percent of MediaTek’s total revenues last quarter.
The revenue growth guidance exceeds Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Eric Chen’s (陳慧明) 8 percent and Credit Suisse analyst Randy Abrams’ 8.4 percent forecasts.
“Again, MediaTek is our top pick,” Chen said in a research note yesterday. “MediaTek stands out among regional tech companies in terms of results and guidance due to strong smartphone IC shipments, upward gross margin and upward average selling prices.”
Shipments of smartphone chips are set to grow about 18 percent to as many as 65 million units this quarter from 55 million units last quarter, Hsieh said, while retaining his full-year shipment target of 200 million smartphone chips for this year.
MediaTek recently added South Korea’s LG Electronics Co to its existing 40 clients that include Chinese handset vendors Levono Group Ltd (聯想) and ZTE Corp (中興).
Following strong demand, MediaTek yesterday raised its shipment forecast for its new tablet chips to between 15 million and 20 million units this year from an original target of 10 million to 15 million units.
Gross margin is set to rise to 44.5 percent this quarter from 43.2 percent last quarter, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker projected.
Hsieh said the fourth quarter would be a slow season, despite MediaTek launching new chips such as the 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) modem, supporting China’s TD-LTE technology, before the launch of an integrated LTE chipset in the second half of next year.
MediaTek’s revenue has traditionally declined by between 15 percent and 20 percent sequentially in the fourth quarter over the past few years, Hsieh said.
The firm also plans to launch a new eight-core chip next quarter for high-end smartphones, which it hopes would boost the company’s overall gross margin, he said.
MediaTek’s major rival Qualcomm Inc lambasted MediaTek’s alleged overstating of the performance of the eight-core chip.
“We don’t believe the best user experience is defined by the core… I don’t believe it will be a success in the market,” Qualcomm chief marketing officer Anand Chandrasekher told a teleconference on Monday.
MediaTek shares rose 0.28 percent to NT$363 yesterday, their highest level in more than a month.
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
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
RSS