Powertech Technology Inc (PTI, 力成科技), a packager and tester of memory chips, expects the company’s growth momentum to last through the second half of this year, after reporting a 22 percent annual growth in net profit last quarter.
“We are optimistic about third-quarter business and very positive about the second half,” PTI general manager Hung Chia-yu told an investors’ teleconference on Tuesday.
Despite concern about stagnant smartphone sales in the global market, Hung said that handset demand remains resilient and vendors are increasing memory density, or memory storage, for new models, which bodes well for Powertech.
Hung spoke positively about Apple Inc’s new iPhone model.
“As the iPhone 6 series has been on the market for two years, consumers should be ready — or even eager — to replace older models,” he said.
“One of our customers just added orders as a customer requested increased supply,” he said.
The customer is from Apple Inc’s supply chain, he said.
For this quarter, Powertech’s revenue might grow by a double-digit percentage from NT$11.32 billion (US$354.2 million) in the second quarter, Hung said.
That would help lift the company’s chip packaging factory utilization to as high as 95 percent this quarter from 80 percent last quarter, he said.
Hung said a new factory in Xian, China — which began mass production this month to provide services for Micron Technology Inc — could contribute between 8 percent and 10 percent of Powertech’s total revenue in the future.
Last quarter, the company’s net profit expanded 22 percent to NT$1.13 billion from NT$927 million a year earlier and grew 20 percent from NT$940 million in the first quarter, while gross margin rose to 21.5 percent from 18.7 percent a year earlier and 19.4 percent last quarter.
Higher margins helped to increase Powertech’s operating profit to NT$1.79 billion last quarter, company data showed.
“PTI’s share gains and margin expansion trends are its key growth drivers,” Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) analyst Andrew Chen (陳治宇) said in a note.
Separately, Siliconware Precision Industries Inc (SPIL, 矽品精密), the world’s No. 3 chip packager and tester, on Wednesday said that its net profit dropped 23.64 percent to NT$2.81 billion last quarter from NT$3.68 billion a year earlier, but soared about 75 percent from NT$1.6 billion the previous quarter.
Revenue was NT$21.68 billion last quarter, it said.
SPIL did not provide a business outlook, as it is in the process of a merger with Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光半導體).
However, SPIL maintained its capital spending at NT$16.7 billion for this year.
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