Touch module and sensor supplier TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) yesterday reported that last quarter’s net profits were the best of the past seven quarters, thanks to strong sales of customers’ lower-priced smartphones during the annual peak season.
Net profit more than tripled to NT$228 million (US$7.5 million) last quarter from NT$54 million in the second quarter, a company financial statement showed.
On an annual basis, net profits increased 19.37 percent from NT$191 million. Earnings per share increased to NT$0.56 last quarter, from NT$0.13 a quarter earlier and NT$0.47 last year.
Revenue soared 40 percent sequentially to NT$40.05 billion, with the fastest growth coming from the company’s smartphone products at 75 percent.
Overall revenue growth greatly surpassed the company’s own estimate from three months ago that predicted a 20 percent quarterly increase.
With the electronics industry entering a slow season, TPK said that the fourth quarter would be a “typical off-season,” with revenue expected to fall by 10 percent from last quarter.
“Company revenue usually hits its peak in the third quarter. This year is no exception,” TPK chief strategic officer Freddie Liu (劉詩亮) told an investors’ teleconference.
However, ongoing customer demand for new smartphones should provide some cushion in the seasonal slowdown, TPK said.
“We are cautiously optimistic about the fourth quarter,” Liu said. “No significant [correction] is expected.”
Operating margin is to stand at 1 percent this quarter, slightly down from the third quarter’s 1.2 percent, the company said.
“This year overall should look better than we expected at the beginning of the year,” TPK said, adding that it attributes the expected success to winning a larger slice, or 60 percent, of order allocations from its major clients for all of its product offerings.
TPK competes with local rival General Interface Solution Holding Ltd (業成) and China’s O-film Tech Co (歐菲光) for touch solution orders from Apple Inc for iPhones and iPads.
Business prospects for next year remain uncertain as the unresolved US-China trade dispute is expected to affect customers’ shipment schedules, the company said.
TPK said it remains confident about the development of its new silver-nanowire (SNW) technology as Samsung Electronics Co, Huawei Technology Co (華為) and more Chinese vendors prepare to launch foldable smartphones next year.
“One to two models on the market are using our SNW technology,” TPK chief executive officer Leo Hsieh (謝立群) told investors. “We expect to see more next year.”
The flexible nature of SNW film makes it ideal for foldable phones, TPK said, adding that the new orders came after the company started shipping its first SNW commercial product for interactive whiteboards.
SHARES DOWN: The top 10 companies all decreased in market value last year, due to COVID-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising interest rates and global inflation Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the top spot among the largest companies in the Asian supply chain in terms of market capitalization, Digitimes Research said. Citing its Asia Supply Chain Market Cap 100 rankings for last year, the research firm last week said TSMC’s market cap was US$378.45 billion, the highest among Asian suppliers, although it dropped by nearly US$200 billion during the year. The 34.3 percent fall in TSMC’s market cap was the largest decline of any company in the survey last year, but was typical of how many top-ranking companies fared. The top 10 in Digitimes’ rankings all saw
Sex worker Nina relies on an apartment in the Turkish city of Istanbul as a relatively safe space to meet clients, but the 29-year-old is worried about making enough to cover the rent after the landlord doubled the price. As a surge in inflation fuels a housing crisis in Turkey, LGBTQ+ sex workers like Nina say landlords are forcing them to accept huge rent hikes for fear of being evicted. Nina, who uses the pronouns they and them, worries about how they will pay the increased monthly rent of 8,000 Turkish lira (US$425.11) on top of rising bills. “There are gas, electricity, water,
Singapore is seeing an influx of ultra-wealthy families from China looking to protect their wealth from a government that increasingly views them with suspicion. The Chinese Communist Party’s recent crackdowns on tech billionaires and tax-shy celebrities, as well as three years of “zero COVID” policies, have led many rich Chinese to look for a safe haven. Nervous over the fate of their fortunes, some of the country’s mega-rich have since booked tickets to Singapore, insiders said. The key Asian financial hub ticks all the boxes for relocating tycoons. Singapore has been ruled by one party for the past six decades, and labor strikes and
Samsung Electronics Co has begun making its fold and flip smartphones as well as its latest Galaxy S23 flagship in India, renewing its focus on a key growth market where Chinese devices have eaten into its sales. The South Korean giant’s Indian unit previously imported some of its premium flip and fold devices into the world’s second-biggest smartphone market, but it is now assembling its entire phone portfolio locally, said Raju Pullan, the head of Samsung’s Indian mobile business. “That also builds on our strong commitment to growing the India market,” Pullan said yesterday, declining to comment on whether the locally assembled