MediaTek Inc (聯發科), which supplies mobile handset chips to China Mobile Ltd (中國移動) and Xiaomi Corp (小米), yesterday reported record revenue for last month after completing its merger with a local TV chipmaker.
As of the first of last month, MStar Semiconductor Corp (晨星半導體), the world’s largest supplier of IC chips used in flat-panel TVs, is a fully-owned subsidiary of MediaTek.
MediaTek’s revenue jumped 22.5 percent to NT$15.84 billion (US$524 million) last month, compared with NT$12.84 billion in January, the company said before the local stock market opened. The figure was 1.6 times higher than the year-earlier level of NT$6.09 billion.
That brought the Hsinchu-based chipmaker’s revenue for the first two months to NT$28.58 billion from NT$20.64 billion the previous year.
MediaTek shares rose 1.72 percent to NT$473 yesterday in Taipei trading.
On Feb. 17, MediaTek said first-quarter revenue would grow between 4 percent and 12 percent to between NT$41.4 billion and NT$44.6 billion, from last quarter’s NT$39.8 billion after factoring in the merger with MStar.
In a separate statement, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, posted a 12.64 percent decline in revenue for last month to NT$16.24 billion from NT$18.59 billion in January.
The number is slightly better than Credit Suisse analyst Randy Abrams’ forecast of NT$10.47 billion, who said in a note yesterday that ASE is “tracking toward the high end” of the company’s guidance for this quarter due to inventory restocking and foreign exchange gains.
ASE last month predicted that revenue from its chip packaging and testing business would decline 12 percent to 15 percent sequentially, while revenue from its electronics manufacturing service business would fall 30 percent on seasonal factors.
On Wednesday, competing chip packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) reported revenue that dropped 7.5 percent month-on-month, but rose 31 percent year-on-year to NT$5.57 billion last month.
Abrams said the company’s results were in line with his estimate and he expected the firm to be on track to hit the high-end of the company’s revenue guidance of a sequential decline ranging from 4 percent to 8 percent.
Meanwhile, Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), which supplies memorychips to Japan’s Nintendo Co, saw its revenue contract by 12.7 percent month-on-month to NT$1.44 billion last month. On an annual basis, revenue grew 9.2 percent.
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