Nova Technology Corp (朋億), which supplies chemical dispensing and waste chemical collection systems to chip and LCD companies, yesterday said its revenue is expected to break a new record this year, benefiting from a continuing semiconductor expansion spree in China.
The Hsinchu-based company’s optimism is based on the orders it has received since the end of last year, which will contribute to its revenue in the first half of this year.
More than 70 percent of the new orders are from China, the world’s biggest semiconductor market, Nova said.
“These orders will help boost our equipment utilization rate to 100 percent this year,” Nova said in a statement yesterday.
Last year, Nova saw its revenue jump 26.07 percent to a historical high of NT$3.34 billion (US$113.49 million), compared with NT$2.65 billion in 2016, thanks to new plant construction projects launched by Chinese chipmakers and LCD panelmakers, including China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co (華星光電) and China Electronics Panda Crystal Technology Corp (中電熊貓).
“This year, most of our growth will come from the semiconductor sector,” Oliver Ou (歐俊彥), a manager in Nova’s financial department, told reporters during a media gathering.
“We have secured record-high orders in US dollar terms from Chinese chipmakers,” Ou said, while declining to disclose detailed figures.
The new orders would help expand the revenue share of its semiconductor equipment to 60 percent this year, from last year’s 52 percent, the company said.
Nova counts Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) as its major customers. Both companies are expanding capacity in Beijing and in Xiamen respectively this year.
Nova has also clinched supply contracts from two of China’s top three memory chip manufacturers, one of which is Fujian Jin Hua Integrated Circuit (JHICC, 晉華電子), Ou said, declining to name the other.
JHICC, Innotron Memory Co (合肥長鑫) and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC, 長江存儲), a memory manufacturing arm of Tsinghua Unigroup (紫光集團), are the other manufacturers in the top three.
China’s top three memory chipmakers are rapidly boosting memory chip capacity under the Chinese government’s bankroll, market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report.
JHICC focuses on producing DRAM chips used in consumer electronics, while Innotron and YMTC make mobile DRAM and 3D NAND flash memory chips, TrendForce said.
Commenting on the effect of China’s recent clampdown on factory pollution and toxic emissions, Ou said it would provide a boon for the company in the long term if China’s local governments extend the curb, as that would require more firms to add new equipment to clean, collect or recycle used chemicals and waste water.
The pollution curbs are largely limited to factories in Jianshu Province’s Kunshan, he said.
Shares of Nova yesterday rallied 5.85 percent to NT$181 on the Taipei Exchange, while the over-the-counter benchmark declined 0.01 percent.
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