Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s largest chip packaging and testing company, said yesterday its first-quarter net income jumped 316.6 percent to NT$3.4 billion (US$108 million), or NT$0.63 in diluted earnings per share, from a net loss of NT$1.57 billion, or NT$0.3 a share, a year ago on increasing outsourcing from foundries and integrated device manufacturers (IDMs).
The first-quarter figure was lower than a net income of NT$3.45 billion (NT$0.66 a share) in the previous quarter, but higher than Credit Suisse’s forecast of NT$2.95 billion (NT$0.54 a share) and Citigroup’s estimate of NT$2.51 billion (NT$0.46 per share).
ASE’s first-quarter results came after rival Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) on Wednesday reported a profit of NT$1.51 billion (NT$0.48 a share) for the first three months, up 477.86 percent from a year ago.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) also released strong first-quarter results earlier this week and guided positive outlooks for the remaining quarters of the year.
ASE said in a statement that it expected shipments from semiconductor assembly, testing and material operations to increase by “the low teens” in terms of percentage points in the second quarter, thanks to a smoother migration to copper wire-bonding packaging from gold wire-bonding.
It also predicted average selling prices would “remain flat” from the first quarter, while gross margin would “return to the second-quarter level of last year,” or 25.2 percent.
ASE forecast shipments for its electronic manufacturing service operations to increase by “mid-single digits” and gross margin to “remain flat” from the first-quarter levels.
ASE shares rose 0.32 percent to NT$31.1 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday before the first-quarter earnings were released. SPIL shares fell 1.15 percent to NT$38.8.
ASE’s first-quarter revenue totaled NT$37.56 billion, up 180 percent year-on-year and 43 percent higher than the previous quarter, which the company attributed to substantial contributions from its operations across the board from a year earlier, it said in a separate statement.
Gross margin, however, dropped to 20.11 percent in the first quarter from 25.13 percent in the same period of last year.
The narrowed margin was in line with the company’s forecast made in February.
Credit Suisse earlier predicted a gross margin of 23.2 percent for the quarter and Citigroup forecast 22.36 percent.
With more orders coming in from major customers amid improving demand, ASE said it might consider adjusting capital expenditure upward this year, which was originally set in February at between US$450 million and US$500 million, especially on the purchase of copper wire bonders.
In the first quarter, ASE’s capital spending in the IC packaging operations amounted to US$137 million, of which US$103 million was used for wire-bonding packaging equipment and US$34 million for wafer bumping and flip-chip ball-grid-array (FCBGA) packaging equipment.
Separately, ASE said on Thursday it bought an office-factory complex from WUS Printed Circuit Co (楠梓電) in the Nantze Export Processing Zone (楠梓加工出口區) in Kaohsiung for NT$472 million.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
RSS