Chunghwa Precision Test Technology Co (CHPT, 中華精測), a supplier of probe cards used for silicon wafer testing, is cautiously optimistic about its business outlook for next year, bolstered by robust demand for vertical probe cards (VPC) and testing demand for high-performance-computing (HPC) chips, a company official said yesterday.
Revenue from the high-margin VPC business is expected to grow by a double-digit percentage next year compared with this year, which would boost VPC’s contribution to more than 25 percent of overall revenue, CHPT president Scott Huang (黃水可) told reporters on the sidelines of a media briefing in Taipei.
The company reported NT$1.06 billion (US$36.16 million) in revenue last quarter, with VPC accounting for 22 percent.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
“We are cautiously optimistic about next year’s business,” Huang said. “The main growth drivers are VPC and HPC.”
CHPT plans to boost its needle planting machines’ monthly capacity by more than 66 percent before the end of the year to 1 million pins from 600,000 pins now, Huang said.
Testing demand for 5G-related chips are also on the rise, as 5G smartphone production is forecast to surge to more than 500 million units next year from an estimated 206 million units this year, he said.
CHPT is also gaining new customers in other fields, as a growing number of companies worldwide are attempting to develop their own chips, he added.
CHPT said it has a good chance to break into the world’s top 10 probe card suppliers this year, after ranking 18th last year.
Asked about order losses from Huawei Technologies Co (華為) due to the US’ export restrictions, Huang said that orders from new customers would fill the void left by the Chinese company, although the adjustments might take some time.
CHPT counts the world’s two major 5G chip suppliers — Qualcomm Inc and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) — among its top clients.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the sole chip supplier to Apple Inc’s iPhone series, is also a customer.
Gross margin rose to 54.1 percent last quarter, from 52.6 percent in the first quarter and 51.9 percent in the second quarter of last year, company data showed.
Gross margin next year is forecast to range between 50 and 55 percent, Huang said.
CHPT said that it set up a smart automation business group earlier this month.
The company is showcasing its smart manufacturing solutions using artificial intelligence technology at the three-day through today in Taipei.
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
INDUSTRY LEADER: TSMC aims to continue outperforming the industry’s growth and makes 2025 another strong growth year, chairman and CEO C.C. Wei says Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday said it aims to grow revenue by about 25 percent this year, driven by robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. That means TSMC would continue to outpace the foundry industry’s 10 percent annual growth this year based on the chipmaker’s estimate. The chipmaker expects revenue from AI-related chips to double this year, extending a three-fold increase last year. The growth would quicken over the next five years at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent, fueled by strong demand for the high-performance computing
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
RSS