Semiconductor component distributor WPG Holdings Co (大聯大) yesterday reported record revenue for last month, as increased demand from emerging markets and the rapid development of e-commerce in China boosted sales of smartphones, tablets and other consumer electronic products.
After last month’s positive outcome, the company said revenue for last quarter exceeded its previous guidance and moved above the NT$100 billion (US$3.32 billion) mark for the first time in the company’s history.
WPG is the largest vendor of its kind in Asia, with clients including Intel Corp, MediaTek Inc (聯發科), Texas Instruments Inc, SK Hynix Inc and Sharp Corp. It is the third-biggest globally after the Melville, New York-based Arrow Electronics Inc and Phoenix-based Avnet Inc.
The company said in a statement that consolidated revenue last month reached NT$38.64 billion, up 26.5 percent month-on-month and 17 percent year-on-year.
First-quarter revenue was NT$102.4 billion, outpacing the company’s forecast of between NT$95 billion and NT$100 billion, and represented an 18.3 percent increase over the NT$86.57 billion recorded in the same quarter the previous year, the company said.
WPG said about 80 percent of its revenue comes from China. Management has targeted to grow this year’s revenue by 10 percent from last year’s NT$406.27 billion, driven by China’s automobile and industrial sectors, as well as smartphone and tablet IC segments.
WPG’s smaller competitor, WT Microelectronics Co (文曄), also reported better-than-expected sales for last quarter, rising 14.95 percent year-on-year to NT$23.01 billion, but 1.9 percent lower than the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, Synnex Technology International Corp (聯強), Asia’s leading distributor of information technology products and electronics components, yesterday posted a 5.95 percent annual increase in first-quarter sales of NT$78.02 billion — the highest quarterly sales in the firm’s history.
However, the figure represents a 14.9 percent decline from the previous quarter due to seasonal factors and lackluster end demand.
Analysts said growth drivers for Synnex this year would be market-share gains in commercial PC and IC components, as well as strong demand for consumer electronics driven by tablets and game consoles.
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