Chunghwa Precision Test Technology Co (CHPT, 中華精測) shares yesterday surged 1.39 percent after the company said it achieved the strongest quarterly net profits in its history last quarter.
Shares of CHPT, which focuses on providing testing services for 14 nanometer (nm) and 16nm wafers, jumped to NT$1,095, outperforming the TPEX, which fell 0.11 percent. The stock has more than tripled in value since its March 24 debut at NT$360 per share.
The Taoyuan-based company said its net profit soared 33 percent from the second quarter’s NT$152 million to NT$203 million (US$6.44 million) during the quarter ending Sept. 30, thanks to rising global demand for advanced chip testing tools.
That translated into earnings per share of NT$6.6, increasing from the second quarter’s NT$4.95.
The firm’s gross margin jumped to 55.1 percent in the third quarter, compared with the second quarter’s 50.3 percent, as it shipped more high-margin probe cards used in wafer testing, the company said.
Probe cards, which accounted for 82 percent of CHPT’s revenue last quarter, deliver a gross margin higher than 50 percent, the company said.
Capital Investment Management Corp (群益投顧) expects CHPT’s revenue to grow about 55 percent year-on-year to NT$2.67 billion this year, as it benefits from the continuing migration of chipmakers to advanced process technologies.
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecom, holds about a 46 percent stake in CHPT.
To satisfy projected customer demand, CHPT aims to ramp up production of 10nm chip testing tools in the first quarter of next year and is scheduled to start volume production of 7nm testing tools in the first quarter of 2018, Huang said.
CHPT counts Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, and MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest handset chip designer, as two of its major clients.
The company expects its capital spending to surge next year from this year’s NT$300 million, mostly on advanced technologies, as it plans to build a new factory and a new headquarters.
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