MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest handset chip supplier, yesterday reported that revenue last month rose 10.94 percent from a year ago, driven by strong demand for smartphone chips from China.
Revenue expanded to NT$9.22 billion (US$309 million) last month, from NT$8.31 billion a year ago, but dipped 0.31 percent from July’s NT$9.25 billion, which was the highest level in almost two years.
Last month, company president Hsieh Ching-jiang (謝清江) told investors that demand for its new smartphone chips in China would be the major sales driver, with quarterly growth projected to rise between 13 percent and 18 percent to between NT$26.5 billion and NT$27.7 billion.
Credit Suisse analyst Randy Abrams expects MediaTek’s revenue to reach the higher end of its forecast range, at NT$27.75 billion, this quarter.
Hsieh said strong demand has caused a supply constraint in the recent three months, but added that he expected the problem to be resolved later this month.
Eric Chen (陳慧明), a semiconductor analyst with Daiwa Capital Markets in Hong Kong, raised his forecast on MediaTek’s full-year smartphone chip shipments to 105 million units from his prior estimate of 90 million units, as the firm benefits from fast-growing smartphone demand in China.
Chen’s new forecast is higher than MediaTek’s estimates of 95 million units. That implies the firm would expand its market share in China’s smartphone chip market to 46 percent this year from 14 percent last year, making it the biggest smartphone chip supplier in China, beating its long-term rival Qualcomm Inc.
Chen said a pick-up in Media-Tek’s 2.5G smartphone chip business and broader product lineup would support its market share gains in China. Qualcomm, on the other hand, is expected to see its share shrink to 41 percent this year, from 70 percent, Chen said.
He raised his target price for MediaTek to NT$400 from NT$303 and rated the stock “buy.”
Separately, United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 2 contract chipmaker, yesterday said revenue rose 1.93 percent to NT$9.8 billion last month, from NT$9.61 billion in July. That marked the strongest monthly revenue in 20 months since December 2010.
On an annual basis, sales rose 19.5 percent from NT$8.2 billion.
UMC expects modest sales growth this quarter as customers adopt more advanced chips.
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s top chip packager, yesterday said revenue grew 3.6 percent month-on-month and 2.5 percent year-on-year to NT$ 16.25 billion, from NT$15.68 billion in July and NT$15.86 billion a year ago.
Macronix International Co Ltd (旺宏電子), which counts Japanese video game console company Nintendo Co as one of its clients, yesterday said revenue rose 4.1 percent to NT$2.41 billion from July’s NT$2.32 billion.
The memory chipmaker said the figure represented an annual growth of 9.3 percent from NT$2.21 billion. Macronix said in July that business would improve this quarter, boosted by seasonal demand for video game machines.
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