Chip designer Global Unichip Corp (GUC, 創意電子) expects sales this quarter to grow at an annual rate by a double-digit percentage as it begins shipping products that were delayed by yield-rate complications.
“Sales from shipments to bitcoin operators that were past due would be booked over the second half,” GUC president Jim Lai (賴俊豪) told an investors’ conference on Friday.
Despite setbacks last quarter, sales are expected to rise 10 to 20 percent annually by the end of this year, while the annual earnings-per-share (EPS) expectations remain intact, he said.
Sales growth this year will be driven by the IC designer’s non-recurring engineering (NRE) and turnkey manufacturing services, Lai said.
However, as the proportion of sales contribution from lower-margin NRE would be higher in the second half, the company is not expecting significant improvement in profitability, he said.
“The delay will not affect prospects of meeting sales and earnings growth targets for this year,” Lai sad.
The company is seeking certifications to tap into the automotive electronics applications market, such as advanced driver assistance systems, he said.
“We are seeking segments where advanced technologies such as 16 nanometer [nm] FF+ and 16 nanometer FFC fabrication would be implemented by clients, which will improve NRE margins,” Lai said.
“Although bitcoin has yet to become mainstream, and has not become our focus, we have seen that the virtual currency has become one of the fast-rising drivers of advanced technologies, because of operators’ need for high-speed computing,” Lai said.
Sales for 5G communication products based on the firm’s 28nm technology is expected to pick up in the second quarter, he said.
However, last month’s sales continued a downtrend from the previous month, the company said, falling 18.5 percent to NT$578 million (US$18.31 million) for an annual decline of 19.9 percent.
Sales in the first seven months of the year rose 7.13 percent to NT$4.72 billion, compared with NT$4.4 billion in the same period last year.
Last quarter, net income tumbled 37 percent sequentially to NT$101 million from NT$160 million.
EPS also fell to NT$0.75 from EPS of NT$1.19 in the first quarter.
Sales during the period fell 14 percent sequentially to NT$1.92 billion from the first quarter’s NT$2.22 billion, due to delayed shipments, the company said.
Gross margin was flat at 28.8 percent last quarter from the previous quarter, but the operating margin fell to 5.55 percent from 8.78 percent in the first quarter.
Lai also announced that he would be retiring on Sept. 1.
GUC’s board of directors has approved the appointment of Chen Chao-chein (陳超乾), a senior director of business development at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), to succeed Lai.
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