Ample Electronic Technology Co (勤凱科技), which supplies conductive paste to passive components maker Yageo Corp (國巨), expects annual revenue to grow more than 10 percent this year, thanks to strong customer demand and market share gains, a company executive said yesterday.
The Kaohsiung-based company said that it is upbeat about this year’s business outlook and expects a wave of 5G smartphone demand to fuel the sale of passive components, including ceramic capacitors and molding chokes.
A 5G phone uses 25 to 40 percent more passive components than a 4G model, the company said.
Photo: Chang Hui-wen, Taipei Times
Ample is also winning market share from Japanese competitors for conductive pastes used for chip resistors, a new business area for the company, it said.
Last year’s revenue reached a record NT$1.21 billion (US$42.60 million), doubling from 2019’s NT$589 million, after sales for last month rose 70 percent annually to NT$124.14 million, the company said.
The company expects last quarter’s uptrend to carry into this quarter, despite seasonal weakness, it said.
“The first quarter is better than the seasonal pattern,” Ample chairman and president T.Y. Tseng (曾聰乙) told reporters at a media briefing in Taipei. “This year as a whole, revenue will grow every quarter.”
“Supply remains tight,” Tseng said. “To satisfy customer demand, we need to expand capacity by about 30 percent.”
Ample plans to add to the capacity of its local production lines, Ample said, citing customers who have brought production lines back to Taiwan given potential US export restrictions.
Washington is considering extending its semiconductor ban to passive components, the firm said.
Asked about trends in component prices, Ample said that it matches the moves taken by its customers.
Most passive component makers intend to keep prices unchanged, Tseng said, dismissing recent media speculation about price increases in the second half of this year.
“Recent supply constraints are not as bad as the last supply crunch, which occurred in 2018,” Tseng said.
Over the past few months, Ample said that it has begun supplying conductive pastes to a South Korean passive component maker, and has sent product samples to Japanese clients, aiming to enter the market there within three years.
Ample’s existing customers are mostly from Taiwan and China, including Yageo, Chilisin Electronics Corp (奇力新) and Walsin Technology Corp (華新科).
The firm has increased sales of its solar conductive paste, with all local solar cell companies except for Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) becoming its customers, it said.
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