Scientech Corp (辛耘) yesterday said that it is building its first Chinese plant to capture a share of China’s rapidly growing reclaimed wafers market.
The company supplies silicon wafers that have been processed and stripped, polished and then cleaned for reuse.
“We have been examining the possibility of constructing a facility in China over the past few years, until recently we found that the time was ripe,” company chief executive officer Hsu Ming-chi (許明琪) told investors at a conference arranged by the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
Scientech has over the past few years been supplying reclaimed wafers to its Chinese clients from its factories in Taiwan, and all of China’s semiconductor companies with 12-inch fabs are on its customer list.
The new factory would have an installed capacity of 60,000 wafers per month by the end of this year, with the number increasing to 100,000 wafers next year, Hsu said, adding that the plant would be fully utilized by the middle of next year.
Scientech would eventually expand its monthly capacity in China to 400,000 wafers, he said.
The company has 95 employees in China, while its total headcount is 570, Hsu added.
Also expanding capacity at home to meet rising demand, Scientech expects to add 20,000 wafers per month this year and next year.
That would bring its local capacity to 160,000 wafers per month by the end of next year, it added.
Together with its factory in China, Scientech said that it would become the world’s biggest supplier of reclaimed wafers.
“As chip supply constraints continue, demand for reclaimed wafers will increase. Companies are using more reclaimed wafers for testing at this point,” Hsu said. “We expect the decline in prices — which is normal — to slow down a bit this year. Hopefully, prices will be flat next year.”
The company said that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is its biggest customer.
TSMC contributed 19.37 percent to the company’s revenue in the first half of last year, a Scientech annual report showed.
Scientech also distributes semiconductor equipment on behalf of other vendors and manufactures its own brand of equipment.
The company’s equipment distribution business accounted for 58 percent of its total revenue last year, while its own brand of equipment and reclaimed wafers made up the remaining 42 percent.
The company’s revenue fell 9.34 percent to NT$3.58 billion (US$125.77 million) last year from NT$3.95 billion in 2019, as Chinese chipmakers suspended capacity expansion due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Net profit declined 5.57 percent to NT$305 million, from NT$323 million in 2019, which translated into earnings per share of NT$3.8, down from NT$4.02 in 2019.
Scientech shares yesterday dropped 1.38 percent to NT$71.3 in Taipei trading.
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