Motherboard maker Gigabyte Technology Co (技嘉) yesterday said it was optimistic about its business this year, as it expects to post a double-digit percentage growth in shipments.
“Our shipments of motherboards, servers and graphics cards [so far] this quarter are better than what we expected considering the COVID-19 pandemic,” Gigabyte chairman Dandy Yeh (葉培城) told reporters at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan.
Pointing to current order visibility, Yeh said that shipments next quarter are expected to remain healthy and continue on an upward trend.
“Of course we were a little worried when the coronavirus broke out in the first quarter as our production was affected ... [and] there are still a lot of uncertainties, but overall [we are still quite] optimistic,” Yeh said.
He forecast double-digit percentage annual growth for total shipments this year.
Yeh said that he expected server shipments to grow between 30 and 50 percent annually this year, surpassing his growth estimate from earlier this year, Chinese-language news Web site Cnyes.com reported yesterday.
“[Market] demand from the gaming industry is sturdy and stable ... demand for servers is growing steadily,” Yeh said.
Meanwhile, demand driven by remote working and distance learning in the beginning of this quarter might slowly dissipate as countries ease COVID-19 lockdown measures, Yeh said.
Due to strong market demand from a global lockdown and a low comparison base, the company last month posted an 80.13 percent year-on-year surge in sales to NT$7.63 billion (US$256.37 million), following April sales of NT$6.17 billion, which grew 40.57 percent.
In the first five months of the year, Gigabyte reported total revenue of NT$31.03 billion, up 25.9 percent on an annual basis.
The company, which also makes laptops for gaming and content creation, said its production plants have recovered since the first quarter, and are currently running at a high utilization rate despite some continuing raw-material shortages.
It has manufacturing facilities in Taoyuan, as well as Ningbo and Dongguan in China.
Seeking to avoid US tariffs levied on Chinese-made products, Gigabyte last year invested nearly NT$800 million to expand its Taoyuan plant, which makes up about 30 percent of its total production.
Shareholders yesterday approved a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$2.2 per common share, representing a payout ratio of 72.13 percent based on earnings per share of NT$3.05 last year.
Gigabyte’s shares increased 2.11 percent to close at NT$63 yesterday in Taipei trading.
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