ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), the nation's third-largest maker of computer memory chips, yesterday said that fourth-quarter net income surged more than 30-fold annually as it shipped more chips to meet market demand.
The chipmaker also shrugged off concerns about estimated losses of NT$950 million (US$29 million) from its holdings of corporate bonds in China Rebar Co (
"ProMOS is a healthy company and able to handle [such losses]," chairman Chen Min-liang (
Net income for the October to December period jumped to NT$9 billion, bringing full-year earnings to NT$15.7 billion, the company said.
The NT$950 million losses from investments in the Rebar Group would only erode profits from last year by around 6 percent, Chen said.
"The strong [profit] performance is a result of growing shipments as we ramped up a new plant faster than expected," Chen said.
Gross margin climbed to more than 50 percent, while revenues surged to a record high at NT$22.2 billion during the fourth quarter.
ProMOS said it planned to spend US$1.2 billion on new equipment and facilities this year.
Separately, the chipmaker said that its US$365 million Chinese plant would start mass production in the second quarter of next year, with a maximum monthly capacity of 60,000 wafers.
The government announced late last month that local chipmakers would be able to apply to manufacture chips using 0.18-micron process technology in China.
The company added that it planned to set up a new subsidiary with US$10 million in initial capital in the current quarter to design and market CMOS image sensors, which are mainly used in handsets, to cope with burgeoning demand in the Chinese and Indian markets.
Last week, ProMOS' US$900 million investment to build 200mm wafer plants in Chongqing, Sichuan Province, was approved by the Chinese authorities, with the project expected to be completed in the first half of this year.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS