Sales revenues of Taiwan's semiconductor industry will rebound to grow between 5 and 12 percent this year, the chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Man-ufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday.
Morris Chang (
TSMC is a major shareholder of Vanguard International, which specializes in dynam- ic random access memory (DRAM) chips manufacturing and logic integrated circuit foundry services. Vanguard International's capacity is estimated at 37,000 wafers per month, the company said.
Chang disagreed with the prediction made by some foreign investors that the semiconductor industry's recovery this year will be one of zero profit margin, saying that although there will be pressure ahead to achieve profits, the industry's profits this year will be much higher than last year's.
He noted that part of the reason for the semiconductor industry's rebound over the past six months has been the running down of inventories. But he said there was still unsold inventory in some areas of the industry, such as communications chips.
Chang said he believes the continuing reduction in inventory will help the semiconductor industry's rebound, pointing out that when the amount of unsold inventory returns to normal levels, market demand will start to pick up.
Vanguard International officials said at the shareholders' meeting that sales revenue last year amounted to NT$9.11 billion (US$260.28 million), for a net loss of NT$8.69 billion (US$248.28 million). However, Chang, who also serves as the chairman of Vanguard International, said that business this year should be much better than last year.
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