Siliconware Precision Industries Co Ltd (SPIL, 矽品精密), the world’s third-largest chip packager and tester, on Friday reported a 47 percent annual decline in net profit for last quarter, eroded by a spike in financial liabilities.
Net profit plummeted to NT$1.49 billion (US$51.2 million) in the final quarter of last year, from NT$2.83 billion a year earlier.
On a quarterly basis, net profit dipped 34 percent from NT$2.26 billion.
Earnings per share were NT$0.48 in the quarter, the company said in a statement.
The poor performance was due to declining revenue last quarter amid falling prices, a strong New Taiwan dollar and a weaker product mix, SPIL said, adding that a loss of NT$463 million in the fair-value adjustment of its convertible bonds also squeezed its profits.
A 3.82 percent rally in its stock price in the fourth quarter of last year boosted the value of its convertible bonds, or the debt, which led to the fair-value change of financial liabilities, SPIL said.
The company said it consequently saw declines in both its gross margin and operating margin last quarter, with its gross margin falling from 23.6 percent a year earlier and 21.9 percent a quarter earlier to 20.7 percent, and its operating margin falling from 13.7 a year earlier and 12.5 percent a quarter earlier to 10.7 percent.
For the whole of last year, net profit dipped 30.5 percent to NT$6.9 billion, compared with NT$9.93 billion in 2016, hitting the lowest level in four years, SPIL said, adding that earnings per share dropped from NT$3.19 in 2016 to NT$2.11 last year.
Its gross margin last year fell from 22.7 percent in 2016 to 20.1 percent and its operating margin fell from 12.6 percent to 10.4 percent, while total revenue shrank 1.81 percent year-on-year from NT$85.11 billion to NT$83.55 billion, the company said.
SPIL last year allocated NT$12.93 billion for capital expenditure, but the company said it plans to spend more this year to expand capacity and its research and development capability, after its board approved a capital expenditure budget of NT$19.2 billion on Dec. 20 last year.
Separately, SPIL on Tuesday said that trading of its shares would be terminated on April 17 on both the Taiwan Stock Exchange and NASDAQ Composite if shareholders approve a share exchange agreement with Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) during an extraordinary general meeting on Feb. 12.
SPIL shareholders would be paid NT$51.2 per share and their approval would pave the way for its merger with ASE later this year, the company said.
Once the share exchange is completed, SPIL would become a subsidiary of a newly formed ASE Industrial Holding Co (日月光投資控股), the company said, adding that ASE would also become a subsidiary of the holding company and its shares would be delisted from the local stock market as well.
The holding company is expected to launch a stock listing on April 30 on both exchanges, SPIL said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in