Catcher Technology Co (可成科技), which supplies metal casings for Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday said sales this quarter would reach this year’s peak year by growing15 percent from last quarter’s NT$21.4 billion (US$653.8 million).
“Thanks to our client’s strong demand, we think a quarterly growth of 15 percent in revenues is a reasonable estimate,” Catcher chairman Allen Hung (洪水樹) told a teleconference.
In the past quarter, net income hit a record of NT$8.15 billion, or earnings per share of NT$10.98, indicating an increase of 69.5 percent from last year’s NT$4.81 billion and 55.4 percent from the prior quarter’s NT$5.25 billion.
Hung said that he is also upbeat about the outlook for the first quarter of next year.
“Overall, we are positive and optimistic about the business outlook next year,” he said.
The smartphone segment would remain Catcher’s main growth driver next year, and the notebook computer and tablet device segments would also drive the firm’s revenue, Hung said, given that more clients adopt metal casings for non-smartphone devices.
The smartphone segment accounted for more than 60 percent of the firm’s revenue of NT$21.4 billion last quarter, while the contribution from the notebook segment declined from last year’s 30 percent to more than 20 percent this year, company spokesperson James Wu (巫俊毅) said.
“Although the notebook segment’s sales contribution declined this year, its revenues grew over the same period last year,” Wu said, citing higher average prices and orders.
Hung said the company’s major smartphone client is expected to adopt a new casing material for its next-generation handset, which would increase the complexity of metal casing technology and benefit the firm’s average price trend.
As part of its efforts to meet its clients’ growing demand, Catcher is to have “aggressive” capital expenditure next year to expand its production capacity, Hung said.
However, the exact amount of capital expenditure would not be disclosed until the client confirms the casing orders in the beginning of next year, he said.
Catcher has spent NT$16.7 billion in capital expense this year with its production capacity expanding by 30 percent from last year, Wu said.
When asked why would Catcher be aggressive about the capital expenditure next year when its order visibility is not clear, Horng said: “Catcher’s sales grew in tandem with the size of the capital expenditure over the past years ... it is Catcher’s and the main client’s mutual commitment.”
Domestic rival Casetek Holdings Ltd (鎧勝) on Thursday also said it would announce a capital expenditure plan next year for a new project for Apple, which would total US$660 million,
Horng said he is not worried about excessive supply in the metal casings industry, because metal casings can be adopted in many products and the market is still growing.
Catcher shares were unchanged at NT$338 in Taipei trading yesterday, while the TAIEX dropped 1.77 percent.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure