ChipMOS Technologies Inc (南茂), a packaging and testing service provider for memory chips and display driver ICs, yesterday said net profit last quarter more than tripled to NT$439.6 million (US$14.32 million) from the prior quarter, supported mainly by strong demand from LCD driver IC clients.
That compared with net profit of NT$124 million in the second quarter. In the third quarter of last year, ChipMOS made NT$162 million in net profit, a company financial statement showed.
Earnings per share last quarter climbed to NT$0.56, from NT$0.15 a quarter earlier and NT$0.19 a year earlier, company data showed.
Gross margin last quarter improved to 19.5 percent, from 16.4 percent in the second quarter and 17.2 percent in the third quarter last year, the data showed.
ChipMOS said it expects strong growth momentum to carry into next year, as it is to benefit from new orders from a major US-based DRAM chipmaker and the rising penetration rate of new touch controllers with display driver integration (TDDIs) for smartphone displays.
“ChipMOS will continue to grow [by revenue] next year, even though the outlook for the overall semiconductor industry remains vague,” ChipMOS chairman S.J. Cheng (鄭世杰) told a teleconference.
New orders for DRAM and low-density NAND flash chip testing and packaging services from the US client, implied as Micron Technology Inc, would help buoy ChipMOS’ factory utilization, fending off the memorychip industry’s downturn, he said.
ChipMOS plans to expand capacity by a double-digit percentage next year, primarily for TDDI and display driver IC testing and packaging services, to satisfy strong customer demand, he added.
The company said it expects capacity constraints for the TDDI and display driver IC segments to worsen next year and might even last through the end of the first half of next year.
Capital expenditure is to account for 20 percent to 25 percent of the company’s total revenue next year, ChipMOS said.
Based on ChipMOS’ business plan and capacity expansion, TDDI revenue is to make a bigger contribution, between 30 percent and 35 percent, to the company’s total display driver IC revenue at the end of next year, compared with 22 percent last quarter, Cheng said.
As testing time for TDDIs is about three times longer than an average display driver IC, TDDIs usually deliver higher average selling prices, he said.
As a result, increases in TDDI orders would help boost ChipMOS’ revenue and gross margin next year, he added.
Display driver IC testing and packaging services were the firm’s second-biggest revenue contributor last quarter, making up about 33 percent of ChipMOS’ total revenue of NT$5 billion, while memory testing and packaging services made up 38 percent, company data showed.
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