Share prices for the nation’s major PC memory chipmakers suppliers surged in the morning trading session yesterday as North Korea’s attack on a South Korean island on Tuesday fueled a ray of hope that PC makers would allocate more orders to local companies on concerns about supply disruption from South Korean chipmakers.
However, the speculation about a potential suspension of chip -exports from South Korea in the event the tension in the Korean Peninsula escalates only gave a brief lift to Taiwanese chip stocks since no strong indications immediately emerged that this might occur, while the fundamental problem of overcapacity that threatens the survival of local DRAM -makers kept cautious investors on the sidelines.
At the end of Taipei trading, the nation’s two biggest DRAM makers, Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) and Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), saw their shares close 0.66 percent and 1.24 percent higher at NT$6.08 and NT$16.2 respectively. By comparison, the benchmark TAIEX closed in negative territory, down 0.38 percent.
Despite share prices jumping earlier in the day on fears of supply disruption, analysts said the bleak outlook for chip consumption would continue to weigh on the DRAM sector this quarter.
“We still believe the downtrend will continue into this quarter since there are no new signs to alter our expectation of lukewarm demand for PCs and other electronics,” said an analyst at Taipei-based research house TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) by telephone, on condition of anonymity.
The spot price for benchmark DRAM fell 0.14 percent to average US$1.45 per unit in afternoon trading after seeing little change in the morning, according to the online price information compiled by TrendForce.
In morning trading, the speculation on reduced DRAM supply from South Korean firms such as Samsung Electronics Co briefly -alleviated a prolonged price decline for DRAM.
Samsung seized more than 40 percent of the global DRAM market by revenue last quarter, with another South Korean firm, Hynix Semiconductor Inc, far behind with about a 21 percent share, according to data from market researcher iSuppli.
TrendForce expected DRAM prices on a contract basis to plunge over 30 percent this quarter after prices tumbled more than 14 percent, the biggest drop in a year, last month to stimulate slack demand, the researcher said, but demand was still in the doldrums, it said.
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,
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
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
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,
RSS