Yageo Corp (國巨), the world’s No. 3 multilayer ceramic capacitor supplier, yesterday gave an upbeat business outlook for next quarter, as robust demand for high-end products has helped to lift its book-to-bill ratio and keep inventory healthy.
Premium passive components used in vehicles, and industrial and medical devices account for 75 percent of the company’s overall revenue, compared with 30 percent in 2017, after it spent two-and-half years optimizing its product and customer lineups, Yageo said.
Yageo’s goal is to boost that share to 80 percent by 2023, with revenue contributions from the automotive segment rising to 22 percent from 18 percent at present, Yageo chairman Pierre Chen (陳泰銘) told an online media briefing after the company’s annual general meeting in New Taipei City’s Xindian District (新店).
Photo: Chang Hui-wen, Taipei Times
“Yageo’s new structure is very different from that of the past,” Chen said. “We are no longer heavily dependent on the greater Chinese market to grow our business.”
Yageo is benefiting from growing demand for high-end passive components from Europe, Japan and the US, Chen said.
Last month’s sales were evidence of that, he said.
Sales last month increased 3.37 percent to NT$9.51 billion (US$339.73 million) from a month earlier, bucking a downtrend that was commonly seen in the past as Yageo’s Chinese customers entered inventory counting season in June.
The company said that its diverse product and customer portfolios have helped shield it from the ups and downs of the consumer electronics market.
Due to greater exposure to China’s consumer electronics market, Yageo’s global rivals saw their customers collecting excessive inventory due to poor sales in the market.
“We see that our customers have healthy inventory. Orders and customer demand are keeping good momentum,” Chen said. “We are still keeping our [book-to-bill] ratio at a high level. Growth momentum remains strong in the third quarter.”
Most production lines are running at more than 90 percent utilization, he said.
To cope with robust customer demand, Yageo expects capital spending to make up 33 percent of the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization this year, and 28 percent next year, before slipping below 20 percent in 2023.
Commenting on Yageo’s partnership with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) to make chips for electric vehicles, Chen said that it would help double Yageo’s revenue from Hon Hai.
Yageo shareholders yesterday approved a planned distribution of NT$10 per common share, including NT$2 per share from its capital surplus.
The firm reported earnings per share of NT$27.58 for last year.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries. On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment. In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based
RSS