Shares of Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電), the world’s seventh-largest foundry, yesterday surged 223 percent on their first day on the Emerging Stock Board, boosting the company’s market capitalization to NT$260.8 billion (US$9.15 billion).
Powerchip’s market value surpassed that of its closest rival, Vanguard International Semiconductor Co (世界先進) valued at NT$210.8 billion, based on its share price of NT$128.5 yesterday.
Powerchip shares skyrocketed to touch NT$84 soon after the market opened in the morning, from the subscription price of NT$26 per share. The stock opened at NT$55.7.
Photo: Hung Yu-fang, Taipei Times
About 1.3 billion Powerchip shares changed hands, making it the most heavily traded stock on the board.
Last week, Powerchip gave an upbeat business outlook for this quarter and next year, saying that 8-inch capacity constraints have triggered panic among its customers. The company would raise prices to cope with capacity scarcity, it said.
As working from home, online learning and the stay-at-home economy stimulated demand for laptops and other devices, Powerchip said it has seen a spike in demand for display driver and power management ICs.
Its DRAM business is close to a breakeven level this quarter, the company added.
Powerchip’s revenue recovered to NT$3.98 billion in October, soaring 30.78 percent from NT$3.05 billion a year earlier. In the first 10 months of this year, revenue surged about 84 percent year-on-year to NT$37.79 billion from NT$20.56 billion.
Yuanta Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) in a note ahead of Powerchip’s stock debut said that the foundry would next year benefit from 8-inch wafer capacity constraints, as it plans to expand its 8-inch wafer capacity by 20 percent and hike prices.
“We believe increases in average selling price and sales volume will be Powerchip’s major growth drivers in 2021,” Yuanta said on Tuesday.
Powerchip plans to raise prices by 5 percent to 10 percent next year, the note said.
Rising demand for power management ICs and improving DRAM chip business are also to drive the chipmaker’s financial performance, Yuanta added.
Yesterday’s debut marked a comeback for Powerchip, which was delisted from the Taipei Exchange in 2012 due to deep debts.
After a major restructuring aiming to minimize operational risk, Powerchip has transformed into a supplier of DRAM chips and provides contract manufacturing services for logic chips, including image sensor, display driver and power management ICs.
The company previously solely produced DRAM chips and relied on technology support from its Japanese partner, Elpida Inc, which was later acquired by US-based Micron Technology Inc.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
Handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) on Sunday reported a 6.71 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for the third quarter, despite revenue last month hitting the highest level in 11 months. Third-quarter revenue was NT$17.68 billion (US$581.2 million), compared with NT$18.95 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The figure was in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$17.9 billion, but missed the market consensus estimate of NT$18.97 billion. The third-quarter revenue was a 51.44 percent increase from NT$11.67 billion in the second quarter, as the quarter is usually the peak
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Pegatron Corp (和碩), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Thursday reported a 12.3 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter to NT$257.86 billion (US$8.44 billion), but it expects revenue to improve in the second half on traditional holiday demand. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for its communications products, a company official said on condition of anonymity. As Apple released its new iPhone 17 series early last month, sales in the communications segment rose sequentially last month, the official said. Shipments to Apple have been stable and in line with earlier expectations, they said. Pegatron shipped 2.4 million notebook
RSS