Wafer probing services provider Chunghwa Precision Test Technology Co (中華精測) yesterday said net profit last quarter reached NT$233 million (US$7.9 million), its highest second-quarter revenue ever, and maintained a cautiously optimistic outlook for the second half of this year.
Net profit almost doubled from NT$118 million from a year earlier and rose 30.17 percent from the previous quarter’s NT$179 million.
Earnings per share jumped to NT$7.11, from NT$3.59 a year earlier and NT$5.46 a quarter earlier.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
In the first half of this year, net profit skyrocketed 95 percent year-on-year to NT$409.63 million from NT$212.48 million, with EPS increasing from NT$6.46 to NT$12.57.
Chunghwa Precision attributed the strong growth to resilient demand for its services for a variety of chips used in 5G smartphones.
With prices of 5G smartphones falling rapidly, Chunghwa Precision is optimistic about global 5G smartphone growth, chairman Lin Kuo-fang (林國豐) told an investors’ conference in Taipei.
Some 5G smartphones in China are priced as low as 2,000 yuan (US$288), Lin said.
Global shipments of 5G smartphones are forecast to reach 210 million units this year, making up about 17 percent of overall smartphone shipments, Chunghwa Precision said, citing a forecast by a local market consultancy.
The share of 5G phones is expected to jump to 42 percent next year, it said.
5G-related wafer testing services last quarter began contributing to the company’s revenue and should further expand this year, Lin said.
Growing 5G business should help gross margin stay between 50 and 55 percent this year, the company said, compared with 54.1 percent last quarter.
“We are cautiously optimistic about the [outlook for the] second half,” company president Scott Huang (黃水可) said.
Chunghwa Precision said rising demand for its vertical probe card business contributed to its optimistic outlook.
This business delivers a much higher margin than a tractional type of probing via load boards.
It is to make up 20 to 25 percent of the company’s overall revenue this year, compared with 12 percent last year, it said.
The company plans to introduce its first vertical probe card service for microelectronic mechanical system this quarter, it added.
Chunghwa Precision has been diversifying its product lineup and customers to avoid becoming overly dependent on a single customer after losing orders from Apple Inc two to three years ago.
The firm counts Huawei Technologies Co (華為), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among its major customers.
The company said its largest customer contributed less than 30 percent to its revenue in the first half.
The top three customers made up about 60 percent of its total revenue, it said.
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