Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) yesterday said the COVID-19 pandemic would not be an obstacle to it making a record-high revenue this year, after posting its strongest first-quarter net profits in about nine years amid robust solid-state-disk (SSD) demand.
The Hsinchu-based memorychip packager and tester said most of its factories in Taiwan, China and Japan have been operating normally, unaffected by the outbreak.
“We still hold an optimistic and positive view about the second quarter. Local governments have reined in the spread of the pandemic, allowing Powertech’s fabs to operate smoothly,” chairman D.K. Tsai (蔡篤恭) told investors.
Photo: Hung Yu-fang, Taipei Times
“Some might be worried about the impact of [high] inventory [amid concern over supply disruptions last quarter], but we are seeing strong customer demand for the third and fourth quarters,” Tsai said. “We believe Powertech’s [revenue] will climb to a historical high this year, unfazed by COVID-19.”
Its confidence is also built on healthy fundamentals, as 5G-related applications, such as smartphones and 5G-enabled infrastructure and networking devices, are to fuel growth, the firm said.
Work-from-home, e-learning, e-commerce and game consoles are also stimulating demand for data centers, PCs and memory chips used in those devices, it said.
Powertech expects “a positive growth in revenue for the second quarter,” president Hung Chia-yu said.
Its DRAM business is expected to outgrow that of NAND flash memory, benefiting from launches of new smartphones and high-speed graphics, and ongoing momentum from notebook computers and data centers, he said.
Demand for system-in-package (SiP) modules has also been strong, driven by increasing consumption of SSD storage for data centers, he said.
Powertech is adding capacity this year after its loading rate climbed to 95 percent last quarter, Hung said.
Overall, loading rate for packaging services is expected to rise to as high as 85 percent this quarter, from 80 percent last quarter, he said.
Net profit jumped to NT$1.63 billion (US$54.15 million) in the first quarter, compared with NT$1.05 billion in the same period last year, marking the best first-quarter in about nine years.
On a quarterly basis, net profit dipped 21.6 percent from NT$2.01 billion, which was an all-time high.
Earnings per share rose to NT$2.1 from NT$1.36 a year ago, but down from NT$2.68 in the previous quarter.
The pandemic has delayed construction on its first panel-based packaging fab in Hsinchu by one to two quarters, but it still aims to complete construction in the fourth quarter this year, paving the way for small-volume production in the second half of next year as scheduled, Powertech said.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure