GlobalWafers Inc (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday reiterated its positive outlook on business until 2025, as customers continue to show a strong interest in securing wafer supply by signing long-term supply agreements (LTAs).
The Hsinchu-based company saw prepayments from LTAs swell to a record NT$33.11 billion (US$1.12 billion), up 15 percent from the end of last year, undeterred by growing uncertainty about macro environmental risks including impact from COVID-19 lockdowns, the Russia-Ukraine war, rising interest rates, and higher energy and freight costs.
“We continue to sign LTA contracts, especially for larger diameter wafers and advanced products, with 300-millimeter wafers being our customers’ primary target,” GlobalWafers chairperson Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) told investors at a teleconference.
Photo: Fang Wei-jie, Taipei Times
“We have yet to see a cooling-off in demand from our customers,” Hsu said.
“There is some unevenness in the end market, with demand from the smartphone and notebook markets, for example, slowing slightly, while demand from the automotive, industrial and server markets continue to be very hot,” she added.
“So far, there has been no order cancelation or pushout from our customers,” she added.
Demand is strongest for all types of 300-millimeter wafers, followed by wafers made of compound semiconductor materials, mainly silicon carbide and gallium nitride, GlobalWafers said.
To satisfy the robust demand, the company said it was maintaining its NT$100 billion capacity expansion plan, which includes brownfield and greenfield projects at six sites in Taiwan, the US, Italy, South Korea, Japan and Denmark.
Much longer lead times in equipment delivery could create a bottleneck, and that could lead to a delay of one to two quarters in the construction of new production lines, Hsu said.
All production lines are running at full capacity, she said.
In the first quarter, GlobalWafers’ net profit plunged 35 percent year-on-year to NT$1.75 billion, dragged by a loss of more than NT$6 billion from a drop in 13.67 percent-held Siltronic AG’s market value and foreign exchange rate fluctuations.
That translated into earnings per share of NT$4.01, down from NT$6.18 a year earlier.
Excluding the unrealized losses from Siltronic, GlobalWafers would have seen a record profit of NT$14.16 per share last quarter, the company said.
Operating profit surged 49 percent to NT$5.89 billion, and gross margin improved to a record 42.6 percent, from 35.1 percent a year ago.
GlobalWafers said it is hard to predict whether its gross margin would be able to rise to the levels — 46 or 48 percent — posted by foundry companies or integrated device manufacturers, given the uncertainty arising from the impending imposition of a carbon emissions tax and higher energy costs.
Wafer manufacturing is a power-intensive industry, the company said.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI