Siliconware Precision Industries Co Ltd (SPIL, 矽品精密), the world’s third-largest chip packager and tester, on Friday reported a 47 percent annual decline in net profit for last quarter, eroded by a spike in financial liabilities.
Net profit plummeted to NT$1.49 billion (US$51.2 million) in the final quarter of last year, from NT$2.83 billion a year earlier.
On a quarterly basis, net profit dipped 34 percent from NT$2.26 billion.
Earnings per share were NT$0.48 in the quarter, the company said in a statement.
The poor performance was due to declining revenue last quarter amid falling prices, a strong New Taiwan dollar and a weaker product mix, SPIL said, adding that a loss of NT$463 million in the fair-value adjustment of its convertible bonds also squeezed its profits.
A 3.82 percent rally in its stock price in the fourth quarter of last year boosted the value of its convertible bonds, or the debt, which led to the fair-value change of financial liabilities, SPIL said.
The company said it consequently saw declines in both its gross margin and operating margin last quarter, with its gross margin falling from 23.6 percent a year earlier and 21.9 percent a quarter earlier to 20.7 percent, and its operating margin falling from 13.7 a year earlier and 12.5 percent a quarter earlier to 10.7 percent.
For the whole of last year, net profit dipped 30.5 percent to NT$6.9 billion, compared with NT$9.93 billion in 2016, hitting the lowest level in four years, SPIL said, adding that earnings per share dropped from NT$3.19 in 2016 to NT$2.11 last year.
Its gross margin last year fell from 22.7 percent in 2016 to 20.1 percent and its operating margin fell from 12.6 percent to 10.4 percent, while total revenue shrank 1.81 percent year-on-year from NT$85.11 billion to NT$83.55 billion, the company said.
SPIL last year allocated NT$12.93 billion for capital expenditure, but the company said it plans to spend more this year to expand capacity and its research and development capability, after its board approved a capital expenditure budget of NT$19.2 billion on Dec. 20 last year.
Separately, SPIL on Tuesday said that trading of its shares would be terminated on April 17 on both the Taiwan Stock Exchange and NASDAQ Composite if shareholders approve a share exchange agreement with Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) during an extraordinary general meeting on Feb. 12.
SPIL shareholders would be paid NT$51.2 per share and their approval would pave the way for its merger with ASE later this year, the company said.
Once the share exchange is completed, SPIL would become a subsidiary of a newly formed ASE Industrial Holding Co (日月光投資控股), the company said, adding that ASE would also become a subsidiary of the holding company and its shares would be delisted from the local stock market as well.
The holding company is expected to launch a stock listing on April 30 on both exchanges, SPIL said.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries. On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment. In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based
RSS