Machinery maker Hiwin Technologies Inc (上銀) on Monday said that robust demand from Japanese semiconductor and electronics clients is to fuel its revenue growth this year, thanks to Japan’s immunity from a US-China trade dispute.
The Japanese market has shown strong momentum, the firm said, adding that it has secured contracts from eight Japanese companies in the past two months.
Revenue from Japan is to grow at an annual pace of 50 percent this year, Hiwin chairman Eric Chuo (卓永財) told reporters on the sidelines of a media briefing for the Taipei International Machine Tool Show.
The Japanese market contributed more than ¥8 billion (US$71.46 million) to the company’s revenue last year, Chuo said.
Overall revenue this year is forecast to increase by a double-digit percentage from NT$29.39 billion (US$952.77 million) last year, he said.
Hiwin’s board of directors yesterday approved an investment of NT$815 million in a new factory in Suzhou to cope with improving demand from China, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Asia is the biggest revenue source for the linear guideway, ball screw and industrial robot supplier, accounting for about 65 percent of its total revenue in the third quarter of last year, the filing said. Taiwan contributed 13 percent.
Hiwin is considering building a new plant in India to cope with rapidly growing demand there, Chuo said.
Europe, the second-biggest revenue source for Hiwin, is also to grow this year, with Italy showing the strongest growth, Chuo said, adding that revenue from Italy soared 30 percent year-on-year in the first two months of this year.
The nation’s machine tool industry “is not hitting the bottom yet. A mild pickup is likely to begin in May at the earliest,” Chuo said.
The local industry is to see exports grow between 5 and 10 percent annually to US$3.89 billion this year, Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (台灣機械公會) said.
The association said that it expects the number of visitors to the annual trade show to increase by 10,000 to 60,000 people and solicit US$2 billion in orders for local manufacturers.
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