FocalTech Systems Co (敦泰電子), which designs driver and touch controller ICs used in flat panels, yesterday said net income grew last quarter for a second consecutive quarter, thanks to rebounding market share and strong demand for integrated driver and controller (IDC) chips.
The company said it expected to further recoup lost market share this quarter as customers are increasing the adoption of its IDC chips for mobile phones.
IDC chips contributed 50 percent to the company’s overall revenue last quarter.
However, FocalTech said it is conservative about its business this quarter in light of the COVID-19 outbreak in China and a low-season effect for the smartphone industry.
“This adds great uncertainties to our smartphone business. Therefore, we are conservative about our business in the first quarter,” FocalTech chairman Genda Hu (胡正大) said in a statement.
The company reported that net income for last quarter plummeted 30 percent to NT$51 million (US$1.7 million), from NT$73 million in the previous quarter, with earnings per share declining from NT$0.29 to NT$0.2. It reported losses per share of NT$2.65 billion a year earlier.
Revenue expanded 9 percent quarterly and 37 percent annually to NT$2.81 billion last quarter, as the company increased the number of wafer suppliers to avoid the supply constraints incurred in 2018 and 2017.
Gross margin fell to 20.04 percent last quarter, from 23.18 percent in the previous quarter, due to intensive price competition for IDC chips, FocalTech said, adding that on an annual basis, gross margin improved from minus-8.35 percent.
The company said gross margin would improve gradually this year, buoyed by increasing adoption of next-generation IDC chips.
Last year as a whole, FocalTech posted a net loss of NT$206 million, compared with a net loss of NT$2.49 billion in 2018 and the third consecutive year of losses, which the company attributed to a wafer shortage.
Revenue slipped 8 percent to NT$9.16 billion last year from 2018, it said.
Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽) shares surged to a seven-month high this week after local media reported that E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) had outbid CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) in the financially strained insurer’s ongoing sale process. Shares of the mid-sized life insurer climbed 5.8 percent this week to NT$6.72, extending a nearly 18 percent rally over the past month, as investors bet on the likelihood of an impending takeover. The final round of bidding closed on Thursday, marking a critical step in the 32-year-old insurer’s search for a buyer after years of struggling to meet capital adequacy requirements. Local media reports
US sports leagues rushed to get in on the multi-billion US dollar bonanza of legalized betting, but the arrest of an National Basketball Association (NBA) coach and player in two sprawling US federal investigations show the potential cost of partnering with the gambling industry. Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and an NBA Hall of Famer, was arrested for his alleged role in rigged illegal poker games that prosecutors say were tied to Mafia crime families. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was charged with manipulating his play for the benefit of bettors and former NBA player and
The DBS Foundation yesterday announced the launch of two flagship programs, “Silver Motion” and “Happier Caregiver, Healthier Seniors,” in partnership with CCILU Ltd, Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation and the Garden of Hope Foundation to help Taiwan face the challenges of a rapidly aging population. The foundation said it would invest S$4.91 million (US$3.8 million) over three years to foster inclusion and resilience in an aging society. “Aging may bring challenges, but it also brings opportunities. With many Asian markets rapidly becoming super-aged, the DBS Foundation is working with a regional ecosystem of like-minded partners across the private, public and people sectors
BREAKTHROUGH TECH: Powertech expects its fan-out PLP system to become mainstream, saying it can offer three-times greater production throughput Chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) plans to more than double its capital expenditures next year to more than NT$40 billion (US$1.31 billion) as demand for its new panel-level packaging (PLP) technology, primarily used in chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, has greatly exceeded what it can supply. A significant portion of the budget, about US$1 billion, would be earmarked for fan-out PLP technology, Powertech told investors yesterday. Its heavy investment in fan-out PLP technology over the past 10 years is expected to bear fruit in 2027 after the technology enters volume production, it said, adding that the tech would
RSS