Time to buy Taiwan chipmaker stocks? Some investors are saying yes after semiconductors returned to the spotlight when Salomon Smith Barney Inc last week recommended investors buy chip stocks. Analysts expect semiconductor orders to pick up on signs the supply of new chips is low as computer sales have increased.
"We've been increasing our weighting in chip stocks in the last month-and-a-half," said Emil Wolter, who helps manage US$3 billion in global emerging markets at Pictet Asset Management in London. "Investors on a 12- to 18-month basis are going to be rewarded."
Analysts say the traditional high season of demand for electronics in the second half of the year may spur semiconductor purchases.
Intel Corp, the biggest computer-chip maker, said yesterday it expects sales of between US$6.2 billion and US$6.8 billion in the second quarter, more than some analysts estimate.
To be sure, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC,
"It's definitely too early to be building positions" in semiconductor stocks, said Dan Heyler, an analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co in Hong Kong.
Some see signs of demand for semiconductors in a pickup in sales for computers and chip designers. Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), a notebook computer maker, said first-quarter sales rose 42 percent to US$805 million, a record from the year-ago period, as customers such as Dell Computer Corp and Apple Computer Inc ordered more notebook computers.
Via Technologies Inc (
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
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