Ample Electronic Technology Co (勤凱科技) said it has a positive revenue outlook for the first half of this year, after sales surged last month on the back of rebounding customer demand.
Consolidated revenue last month increased 91.65 percent to an all-time high of NT$73.25 million (US$2.43 million) from NT$38.22 million a year earlier, the Kaohsiung-based company, which supplies conductive paste primarily to passive component makers, said yesterday.
Revenue last year sank 17.39 percent to NT$589.2 million from NT$713.25 million in 2018 due to excess inventory in the supply chain, Ample said.
The company generated 90 to 95 percent of its revenue from conductive paste used in passive components, it said.
Factory utilization approached 100 percent last month, thanks to “robust inventory replenishment from customers,” Ample said.
“Customers had cleared all their excess inventory by the fourth quarter,” company president T.Y. Tseng (曾聰乙) told reporters at a media gathering in Taipei.
Due to the supply crunch, passive component suppliers are allocating capacity to their customers and have raised prices 5 to 10 percent for the extra supply of multilayer ceramic capacitors and chip resistors, Tseng said.
However, no drastic price hikes are expected this time, in contrast to previous instances, he said.
“To satisfy customer demand, our factory will continue operating during the Lunar New Year holiday. We plan to implement second shifts to boost output,” Tseng said. “Our customers have decided to work through the holiday to manufacture as many products as possible.”
Based on customer feedback, “the passive component industry already bottomed out in the third quarter of last year. [Order] visibility for the first half indicates [that revenue] will grow every quarter to hit a record high,” he said.
Yageo Corp (國巨) and its subsidiary Chilisin Electronics Corp (奇力新) are Ample’s biggest customers, although they make up less than 50 percent of the company’s annual revenue.
Ample said it is diversifying its customer portfolio by increasing shipments to Walsin Technology Corp (華新科) and securing new customers in South Korea and Japan.
Ample said it is also expanding its product lineup.
It has made progress in supplying silver conductive paste to Walsin and Chinese 5G component manufacturers to make dielectric filters for Huawei Technology Co’s (華為) and ZTE Inc’s (中興) 5G base stations, it said.
“Ample is benefiting from China’s restrictions on sourcing materials and components from the US,” Tseng said.
Ample competes with DuPont Co in supplying 5G dielectric filters, it said.
The company expects shipments for 5G dielectric filters to grow significantly in the second half of this year.
Ample is planning to build a factory in Wuxi, China, in response to Huawei’s request to supply dielectric filters locally.
In addition, Ample has expanded its products to conductive paste for solar cells, it said.
The company expects solar conductive paste to contribute about 10 percent of total revenue this year.
Separately, Yageo yesterday reported consolidated sales of NT$3.26 billion for last month, down 7.4 percent month-on-month and 28.1 percent year-on-year.
The company in a regulatory filing attributed the decline to fewer working days, reduced shipment from customers in the US and Europe, and a labor shortage.
Sales in the fourth quarter reached NT$10 billion, down 3 percent from the previous quarter and 38.4 percent from a year earlier, with whole-year sales decreasing 46.5 percent annually to NT$ 41.29 billion, company data showed.
Yageo said it is positive about end demand this year, despite challenges posed by the labor shortage and a US-China trade dispute.
As its order delivery lead time has been extended from 45 days to 90 and the inventory level of finished products continues to decrease, the company would endeavor to increase utilization rate to meet customers’ demand, it said.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
RSS