Catcher Technologies Co (可成科技), which supplies metal casings for Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday revised upward its sales guidance for next quarter, citing increasing demand for smartphone and notebook products.
“Thanks to the smoother production and strong orders for metal casings for new projects, we now forecast the next quarter will be better than this quarter,” Catcher chairman Allen Hung (洪水樹) told a media briefing after the firm’s shareholders’ meeting in Tainan.
In an investors’ conference on April 29, Horng said the company’s revenue next quarter would be flat from this quarter due to the dissipating product cycle for existing projects.
Photo: CNA
In the first five months of this year, Catcher made NT$31.33 billion (US$1 billion) in sales, up 64.05 percent from a year earlier.
Hung said the strong sales performance bodes well for the company throughout this year.
Hung said sales this month would drop slightly from last month’s NT$6.85 billion due to a traditional slow season, but they would pick up significantly from next quarter.
“Sales in the fourth quarter of this year will expand further from the third quarter,” Catcher spokesman James Wu (巫俊毅) said.
Hung said the predicted momentum is based on larger order allocations from its major smartphone clients this year.
Commenting on one of its clients’ new smartphone projects, Hung said a surface treatment on a harder metallic material is more difficult than traditional metal-casing processes and would lower the yield rate at the beginning of the production cycle.
“However, it will not be a major issue for Catcher, as we keep improving our techniques,” Hung said.
Despite soft demand for PCs and weaker-than-expected smartphone sales, Hung said the firm does not worry about its business outlook, because Catcher’s main clients are doing well in the notebook computer and smartphone segments.
“Overall, our main clients are on the winning team,” he said.
In a bid to meet rising demand from clients, Catcher raised its capital expenditure by 35 percent from a year earlier to NT$6.76 billion in the first half of this year, Hung said, adding that the funds will be mainly be used to build new factories.
He said that capital expenditure for the second half of this year would be flat from the first half, mainly because of equipment purchases.
“Overall, capital expenditure for this year is to be lower than last year’s NT$23.2 billion,” he said.
Hung said he is upbeat about Catcher’s ability to outpace rivals for at least five years, adding that the firm’s advanced technologies and techniques in metal casing treatments for various products put it in a strong position.
Despite market concerns about rising competition from Casetek Holdings Ltd (鎧勝) and FIH Mobile Ltd (富智康) regarding orders of Apple MacBook and tablet products, Catcher remains confident about its technological edge.
“Tell me, which company should Catcher be worried about?” Hung asked shareholders.
Metal casing treatments are more delicate and complicated than people imagine, he said, adding that the work requires more than just advanced equipment.
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco), the Saudi state-owned oil giant, yesterday posted first-quarter profits of US$26 billion, down 4.6 percent from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s multitrillion-dollar development plans. Aramco had revenues of US$108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw US$107.2 billion in revenues and profits of US$27.2 billion for the same period last year. Saudi Arabia has promised to invest US$600 billion in the US over the course of US President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump, who is set to touch
SKEPTICAL: An economist said it is possible US and Chinese officials would walk away from the meeting saying talks were productive, without reducing tariffs at all US President Donald Trump hailed a “total reset” in US-China trade relations, ahead of a second day of talks yesterday between top officials from Washington and Beijing aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by his aggressive tariff rollout. In a Truth Social post early yesterday, Trump praised the “very good” discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.” The second day of closed-door meetings between US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) were due to restart yesterday morning, said a person familiar