Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s largest chip packager and tester, yesterday said equipment loading improved last quarter and that the increase is expected to continue this quarter.
However, to solve persistent capacity constraint issues since last quarter, ASE plans to add 5 percent more capacity this quarter, chief operating officer Tien Wu (吳田玉) told an investors’ conference.
ASE is expanding capacities for technologies including leading-edge fan-out capacity, given a drastic increase in demand, Wu said.
Fan-out packaging technology is becoming a focus of chip packagers and equity investors such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) is expected to supply its integrated fan-out technology to Apple Inc’s iPhones.
The company said it expects strong demand from all segments and its system-in-a-package business — mainly for wearable devices — is expected to start picking up this quarter.
Factory utilization is forecast to climb 5 percent this quarter from last quarter to about 85 percent for its packaging equipment and to 80 percent for its testing equipment, the company said.
Gross margin for its core business is expected to rise to 26 percent this quarter from 24.8 percent last quarter, ASE projected.
Overall, Wu said revenue would grow quarter-to-quarter growth in the second half of this year.
Last quarter, ASE’s net profit rose 12 percent from NT$4.16 billion (US$130 million) in the first quarter to NT$4.68 billion. On an annual basis, net profit surged 28 percent from NT$3.65 billion.
Last quarter’s figure is slightly higher than NT$4.5 billion estimated by CIMB Securities Ltd and NT$4.43 billion projected by Capital Investment Management Corp (群益投顧).
ASE said it and Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) submitted an application yesterday with the Fair Trade Commission to seek a regulatory approval for its NT$128.7 billion takeover bid of SPIL.
The companies are also preparing similar applications in countries such as China and the US, he said.
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