Elan Microelectronics Corp (義隆電子), which supplies touchpad controller and fingerprint sensors, yesterday reported 63 percent year-on-year growth in revenue for last month as the COVID-19 pandemic stimulated demand for laptops and boosted consumption of the company’s products.
Consolidated revenue jumped to a historic high of NT$1.23 billion (US$41.02 million) last month from NT$751.93 million the previous year.
On a monthly basis, revenue increased 17.9 percent from NT$1.04 billion.
Touchpad modules made up half of the company’s sales last month, Elan Microelectronics said.
In the first five months of the year, cumulative revenue increased 34.27 percent to NT$4.47 billion from NT$1.14 billion during the same period last year, company data showed.
“Revenue significantly surpassed the company’s expectations,” Elan Microelectronics said in a statement. “The COVID-19 pandemic prompted working from home, remote learning and online schooling, which changed the market’s seasonal pattern and boosted demand for laptops.”
The global laptop market is usually supported mostly by replacement demand, as well as back-to-school demand in the third quarter, the company said.
This year, “the second quarter will be the strongest quarter [of the year] based on demand from customers,” Elan Microelectronics chairman Yeh I-hau (葉儀皓) said last week.
The momentum is likely to carry into next quarter, she said.
Elan Microelectronics told an investors’ conference on April 28 that the world’s major computer vendors had increased orders significantly since March to meet strong demand and to replenish low inventories after the COVID-19 pandemic forced many nations to implement a lockdown.
That demand would fuel second-quarter shipment growth for major products such as touchpad controllers, and touchscreen and fingerprint sensors, the company said at the time.
The company posted a net profit of NT$54 million for the first quarter, down 86.8 percent year-on-year, due to a significant asset impairment loss from its more than 10 percent stake in FineMat Applied Materials Co (旭暉應材).
Earnings per share plunged to NT$0.18 from NT$1.36.
However, operating profit surged 48.1 percent to NT$514 million last quarter from NT$347 million the previous year, as gross margin increased from 45.5 percent to 47.3 percent, the company said.
Elan Microelectronics expects fingerprint sensors to be its new revenue growth driver, as the penetration rate of laptops with touchscreens is expected to rise to between 23 and 24 percent from 21 percent of laptops last year.
The company also expects revenue from fingerprint sensors to continue growing this year, following 30 percent year-on-year growth last year. Fingerprint sensors contributed 5 percent of total revenue last month.
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