Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) swung back into the black last year, reporting a net profit of NT$3.81 billion (US$134.51 million) attributable to healthy demand mainly for power management ICs and driver ICs for flat panels, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
That translates into earnings per share of NT$1.23.
In 2019, Powerchip reported a loss of NT$1.48 billion, or losses per share of NT$0.94. Gross margin improved significantly to 24.06 percent last year, from 8.36 percent a year earlier.
Photo: CNA
Robust customer demand helped boost chip prices and revenue, which rose 37.24 percent to NT$45.68 billion last year from NT$35.9 billion a year earlier.
Power Semiconductor chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told investors in December last year that he was optimistic about the company’s business outlook for this year, as strong demand for notebook computers, tablets and 5G smartphones has resulted in a severe shortage of almost all kinds of chips.
Supply of power management ICs, image sensors and display driver ICs has become so tight that the company has no extra capacity to meet demand, Huang said at the time.
He said that he expected supply constraints to spread to the memory chip segment in the second half of this year.
Powerchip’s board of directors on Tuesday approved a fundraising project offering 300 million new shares to existing shareholders.
The chipmaker could raise NT$12 billion, as each share is provisionally priced at NT$40, and the proceeds would be used mostly to expand capacity, and on research and development, the company said in a separate filing.
The Hsinchu-based chipmaker plans to start building two 12-inch fabs in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Industrial Park (銅鑼科學園區) later this month, which are to have a combined installed capacity of 100,000 wafers per month.
Powerchip’s board also approved a proposed cash dividend distribution of NT$0.49 per common share based on the second half of last year’s net profit. The distribution is subject to shareholders’ approval at the firm’s annual general meeting on June 9.
The proposal to launch an initial public offering is on the top of the agenda for the shareholders’ meeting.
The chipmaker reported that revenue grew 26.65 percent to NT$4.24 billion last month, from NT$3.35 billion a year earlier, and increased 1.28 percent from NT$4.19 billion a month earlier.
In the first two months of this year, Powerchip’s revenue expanded 22.53 percent to NT$8.43 billion, from NT$6.88 billion in the same period last year.
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