Tong Hsing Electronic Industries Inc (同欣電), an image sensor packaging services arm of Yageo Corp (國巨), yesterday said that the COVID-19 pandemic has not negatively affected demand and it expects revenue to grow by a double-digit percentage year-on-year this quarter, despite it being likely to decline by a single-digit percentage quarter-on-quarter from NT$2.09 billion (US$68.7 million) due to seasonal weakness.
“Our business performance will meet our guidance as customer demand remains intact, despite the COVID-19 outbreak,” Tong Hsing president Heinz Ru (呂紹萍) told investors in a teleconference.
The pandemic has had a minor impact on the firm’s factory in the Philippines due to transportation restrictions, but it is mainly operating normally as export-oriented industries are exempt from the quarantine measures imposed by the Philippine government, Ru said.
The company’s plants in Taipei and Taoyuan are also operating normally, thanks to a smooth supply of raw materials, he said.
“The first quarter will be very different this year compared with the same period in previous years. We expect strong growth this quarter and are also optimistic about the second-quarter outlook,” he said.
CMOS image sensor (CIS) packaging services would grow at the fastest rate this quarter, supported by growing demand for higher-resolution cameras for smartphones in China and for multiple-camera handsets, he said.
To cope with strong demand for CIS services, Tong Hsing plans to more than double its monthly capacity to 160,000 wafers at its plant in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭), Ru said.
As a result, capital expenditure this year is set to soar to NT$2.17 billion from NT$657.25 million last year, the company said.
Tong Hsing expects the CIS business to become its biggest source of revenue this year, replacing the ceramic substrate business, following the acquisition of CIS service provider Kingpak Technology Inc (勝麗), it said.
Ceramic substrates accounted for 40 percent of the company’s revenue last year.
Tong Hsing posted a net profit of NT$741.96 million for last year, down 26.8 percent from NT$1.01 billion in 2018, primarily due to foreign-exchange losses of NT$42 million during the final quarter of the year.
Earnings per share fell to NT$4.49 from NT$6.13.
Gross margin last year shrank to 21.5 percent from 25.7 percent in 2018 due to an unfavorable product mix.
Revenue rose 0.2 percent to NT$7.43 billion last year, from NT$7.41 billion in 2018.
Shares in Taiwan closed at a new high yesterday, the first trading day of the new year, as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued to break records amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 386.21 points, or 1.33 percent, at 29,349.81, with turnover totaling NT$648.844 billion (US$20.65 billion). “Judging from a stronger Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, I think foreign institutional investors returned from the holidays and brought funds into the local market,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Foreign investors just rebuilt their positions with TSMC as their top target,
H200 CHIPS: A source said that Nvidia has asked the Taiwanese company to begin production of additional chips and work is expected to start in the second quarter Nvidia Corp is scrambling to meet demand for its H200 artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Chinese technology companies and has approached contract manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to ramp up production, sources said. Chinese technology companies have placed orders for more than 2 million H200 chips for this year, while Nvidia holds just 700,000 units in stock, two of the people said. The exact additional volume Nvidia intends to order from TSMC remains unclear, they said. A third source said that Nvidia has asked TSMC to begin production of the additional chips and work is expected to start in the second
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”