Passive components manufacturer Yageo Corp (國巨) expects to see its revenue grow by 3.62 percent this year, benefiting from the company’s latest price hike on chip resistor products, First Capital Management Inc (第一金投顧) said on Thursday.
The company’s price increases of 15 to 20 percent on certain chip resistor products, announced on Wednesday, could increase revenue by NT$1.17 billion (US$39.53 million), while boosting its gross margin by between 3 and 4 percentage points and lifting its earnings per share by NT$0.9, First Capital said in a statement.
Yageo is one of the world’s major suppliers of resistors — an electronic component used to resist or reduce the amount of current flowing in an electronic circuit — controlling one-third of the global market share, with rivals including Taiwan’s Walsin Technology Corp (華新科) and Ralec Electronic Corp (旺詮), as well as Japan’s Rohm Co Ltd and KOA Corp, Taishin Securities Investment Advisory Co (台新投顧) said in a separate statement on Thursday.
Yageo reported total revenue of NT$32.26 billion last year, up 8.91 percent from 2016, as the company raised prices for its multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) products four times throughout the year amid a supply crunch.
Chip resistor sales contributed NT$14.2 billion to Yageo last year, accounting for about 44 percent of its total revenue, with MLCCs making up 50 percent, Taishin said.
Viking Tech Corp (光頡科技), a supplier of resistors and inductors, also on Thursday announced that it would raise prices for several chip resistors by 10 percent, due to higher prices for raw materials such as packaging material, paste, electroplating material and ceramic substrate.
Yageo’s and Viking Tech’s price hikes came after Ralec announced on Jan. 2 that it would raise prices for some chip resistor products by up to 15 percent for greater China distributors and agents.
The shortage in chip resistor supplies began in the third quarter of last year and the situation is expected to persist into the first half of this year, as major manufacturers in Japan are moving to focus on high-end products amid a trend toward automotive electronics, analysts said, adding that increases in resistor supplies at Taiwanese suppliers have been limited, while raw material and labor costs continue to rise and the New Taiwan dollar struggles against the US dollar, analysts said.
Yageo’s stock price closed 2.98 percent lower at NT$375 in Taipei trading on Friday.
Over the past 12 months, the stock has surged more than 466 percent, compared with the main bourse’s 15.7 percent rise over the same period, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for