Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密), the world’s second-largest chip packager, expects demand to gradually improve in August on the back of new product launches from smartphone brands other than Apple Inc.
Business visibility for the second half of this year is still unclear, as unresolved debt problems in Europe and potential rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve overshadow global economic growth, chairman Bough Lin (林文伯) told reporters after the company’s annual general meeting.
“Seasonal demand for mobile devices and smartphones is expected to set in,” local cable TV network UBN quoted Lin as saying during a shareholders’ meeting in Taichung.
Smartphone vendors from the Android camp are expected to launch new models to recover some market share lost to Apple as the craze for Apple’s iPhone 6 series ebbs, Lin said. “The overall semiconductor industry will be back on a growth track in the second half.”
However, demand in the current quarter remains weak and is below seasonal patterns due to lackluster sales of PCs, smartphones and consumer electronics amid excessive inventory, Lin said.
Lin expects the semiconductor industry to bottom out this month or next month, as inventory goes down.
HOME ADVANTAGE
Commenting on the rise of Chinese semiconductor firms, which are growing rapidly on strong support from Beijing, Lin said Taiwanese chip testers and packagers still maintain technological edges, adding that it would take Chinese firms from three to five years to catch up with Taiwanese companies.
Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology Co Ltd (蘇州長電) is considered a potential competitor to Taiwanese firms, after the Chinese chip tester and packager expressed its intention to acquire Singapore-listed STATS ChipPAC Ltd for US$780 million.
STATS ChipPAC is the world’s No. 4 chip tester and packager.
As STATS ChipPAC plans to relocate its Chinese plant in Shanghai to a new site to cope with China’s new industrial zoning program, it would take at least nine months to start offering services to clients, Lin said.
He said it would take at least three years for Jiangsu Changjiang to create synergy effects and pose a threat to Taiwanese companies.
“Government subsidies are not cure-alls,” Lin said, suggesting that Taipei further relax China-bound investments to fully compete with Chinese firms.
Siliconware shareholders yesterday approved a plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$3 per common share, the highest in seven years, based on the company’s net profit of NT$11.73 billion (US$375.2 million) last year, or NT$3.76 per share.
That represented a divided yield of 6.56 percent compared with Siliconware’s closing price of NT$45.7 yesterday in Taipei trading.
POWERTECH DIVIDEND
Separately, memory chip tester and packager Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) shareholders yesterday approved a cash dividend of NT$3 per common share, representing a 4.81 percent dividend yield compared with the stock’s closing price of NT$62.4.
Powertech last year earned NT$3.24 billion, or NT$4.24 a share.
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