Wafer Works Corp (合晶), the world’s sixth-largest silicon wafer manufacturer, yesterday said that it plans to build a new 12-inch wafer production line to cope with demand and enhance its competitiveness.
The US-China trade dispute has overshadowed the semiconductor industry’s outlook, but Wafer Works is still looking to build more capacity and conduct research and development at its headquarters in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭), the company said in a statement.
Earlier this month, the company received approval from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to build a NT$1.17 billion (US$37.6 million) new research and development center in Longtan.
As part of its capacity expansion, Wafer Works plans to build a new production line for 12-inch silicon wafers in the second quarter of 2021, the company said.
The company said that it expects demand to recover gradually in the final quarter of this year after customers reduce excess inventories to normal levels by the end of the third quarter, the statement said.
Wafer Works shareholders yesterday approved the company’s plan to pay a cash dividend of NT$2.5 per common share, representing a 65.79 percent payout ratio based on its record-high earnings per share of NT$3.8 last year.
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that its shareholders approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$25 per share, an all-time high.
That represented a payout ratio of 80 percent after the company posted earnings per share of NT$31.18 last year.
The US-China trade dispute is causing enormous uncertainty about demand and visibility for the second half of this year is vague, GlobalWafers chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) told Unique Satellite TV.
Inventories remain high, she said.
Shares of Wafer Works fell 1.94 percent to close at NT$35.3, while GlobalWafers dropped 4.43 percent to NT$302 yesterday in Taipei trading.
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