MediaTek Inc (聯發科), which supplies handset chips to Chinese companies, including Lenovo Group (聯想) and Xiaomi Corp (小米), yesterday again posted record-breaking monthly revenue, of NT$17.43 billion (US$576 million), boosting the current quarter’s revenue past the company’s forecast.
Last month’s revenue rose 10.79 percent from February’s NT$15.73 billion and grew 84.84 percent from a year earlier after acquiring local flat-panel TV chip supplier MStar Semiconductor Corp (晨星半導體) in February.
In the first three months of the year, MediaTek’s revenue expanded 15.6 percent to NT$46.01 billion from NT$39.8 billion the previous quarter, exceeding the company’s forecast ranging from NT$41.4 billion to NT$44.6 billion.
Credit Suisse analyst Randy Abrams yesterday said the strong results were caused by a 7 percent quarter-on-quarter increase in smartphone chips to 70 million units and helped by a steady average selling price of US$10 for the company’s products. In January, MediaTek projected chip shipments of 65 million units for the first quarter.
This quarter, MediaTek is expected to post 3 percent sequential growth in revenue, supported by ramping up production of octa-core chips and revenue contribution from MStar, Abrams said in a research note.
Abrams raised his earnings forecast for MediaTek this year to NT$9.6 billion in net profit, or NT$6.16 per share, from his previous estimate of NT$9.1 billion, or NT$5.83 a share.
He also increased the stock’s target price to NT$540 from NT$500 for the next 12 months.
Separately, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s biggest chip packager, yesterday posted 22.3 percent sequential growth in revenue for last month to NT$19.87 billion from NT$16.24 billion in February.
For the quarter ended last month, ASE’s consolidated revenue contracted 14.8 percent to NT$54.7 billion from NT$64.16 billion the previous quarter, but was still higher than the NT$53.02 billion projected by Abrams.
Revenue from the core business — chip packaging and testing services — fell 9.4 percent to NT$34.35 billion in the first quarter, which was also above ASE’s guidance of between NT$32.95 billion and NT$33.83 billion.
Meanwhile, Siliconware Precision Industries Co’s (矽品精密) sales grew 15.9 percent to NT$6.46 billion last month from the prior month, bringing its quarterly revenue to NT$18.06 billion, up 4.2 percent from the fourth quarter’s NT$18.84 billion and beating the firm’s forecast of between NT$17.3 billion and NT$18.1 billion.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
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