Nova Technology Corp (朋億), a supplier of industrial water, gas and chemical dispensing systems, yesterday said that its Chinese semiconductor customers have become more cautious about fab expansions amid growing concern that the US might extend its export restrictions to most Chinese chipmakers.
Heightening tensions between Washington and Beijing have cast a shadow over Nova’s business outlook for the second half of this year, the company said.
Nova said that Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML Holding NV has put on hold shipments of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), a major client of Nova, as Washington looks to blacklist the Chinese chipmaker.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Customers are rushing to complete ongoing projects,” Nova president David Ma (馬蔚) said. “Clients are also spending more time evaluating new investment projects because of the US-China trade tension and recent export curbs.”
The US’ latest sanctions on Huawei Technologies Co (華為) have raised concern that Washington might extend the restrictions to SMIC and other Chinese semiconductor firms, Nova said.
SMIC has not slowed its expansion of advanced 14-nanometer chips, as Nova has received a new contract from the chipmaker to build a dispensing system for industrial water, gas and chemicals at Semiconductor Manufacturing South China Corp (中芯南方), an SMIC subsidiary, Ma said.
SMIC and its subsidiaries contributed more than 10 percent to Nova’s revenue last year.
Nova expects its revenue this year to be little changed from last year’s NT$4.41 billion (US$149.47 million), as customer demand is constrained by the China-US trade tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic, Ma said.
China contributed between 70 and 80 percent to Nova’s revenue last year, the company said.
Nova’s revenue surged 45 percent to NT$358 million last month from NT$246 million in July, as Chinese chipmakers accelerated capacity expansion plans and new fab constructions. On an annual basis, that represented growth of 4.28 percent from NT$343 million.
In the first eight months of the year, Nova’s cumulative revenue dipped 6.7 percent year-on-year to NT$2.69 billion.
Acter Co (聖暉), the parent company of Nova, yesterday said that revenue last month jumped 34.21 percent year-on-year and 10.48 percent month-on-month to NT$1.16 billion.
Revenue in the first eight months of the year totaled NT$9.15 billion, up 10.85 percent from a year earlier, Acter said.
The company, which builds clean rooms, air-conditioning systems and other facilities, said that revenue this year would be higher than last year’s, as it benefits from new fab constructions from Taiwanese manufacturers, which are exiting China amid the US-China trade dispute.
Acter has received 10 times more new orders from customers for their infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia, company president Lai Ming-kun (賴銘崑) said yesterday, adding that it expects revenue contribution from the region to jump to about 10 percent next year from between 3 and 5 percent currently.
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