Elan Microelectronics Corp (義隆), which supplies touch-panel controller chips, on Wednesday said that revenue this quarter would grow by 15.49 to 25.1 percent from last quarter, as demand for notebook computers remains strong.
Revenue this quarter would likely reach NT$4.8 billion to NT$5.2 billion (US$171.74 million to US$186.05 million), compared with NT$4.156 billion last quarter, which fell 10.57 percent from the previous quarter due to fewer working days, the company said in a statement.
However, last quarter’s revenue surged 88.4 percent year-on-year, the company said, citing increasing laptop demand amid the work-from-home and distance-learning trends triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as higher inventory levels at notebook brands in response to tight supplies.
Photo: Bill Chen, Taipei Times
“Given the current strong demand for notebook computers and Chromebooks, and tight capacity in the supply chain, order visibility has extended to the end of this year,” Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said in a note on Thursday.
“Along with recent product price hikes on rising foundry costs, we expect operations to hit a new high in the near term,” it said.
Elan’s products are mainly used in touchpads, touch screens, fingerprint sensors and pointstick solutions.
The company said that shipments this quarter are expected to increase sequentially, especially fingerprint sensor chips, which saw weaker-than-expected shipments in the first quarter due to capacity constraints.
Last quarter, Elan shipped 35 million sets of touchpad controller chips, 9.5 million sets of touch screen driver ICs and 4.4 million sets of fingerprint sensors, company data showed.
Demand remains strong, but overall supply is tight and delivery times stretched, it said.
Demand outlook in the second half of this year should be better than the first half, it said.
Elan’s remarks came after it released its first-quarter results, showing that net profit was NT$1.1 billion, the best first-quarter figure in the company’s history and compared with NT$54 million a year earlier.
Earnings per share were NT$3.77, up from NT$0.18 a year earlier, the company said.
Gross margin reached a record 47.95 percent in the first quarter, representing an annual increase of 67 basis points, which the company attributed to an improved product mix and rising contributions from high-margin products.
A larger business scale, the effects of operating leverage and a decrease in losses on valuation of non-operating assets boosted operating margin to 28.67 percent in the first quarter, from 23.29 percent a year earlier, it said.
Gross margin is likely to be 48 to 50 percent this quarter, while operating margin might reach 30 to 33 percent, Elan said.
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