ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembler and tester, yesterday issued an optimistic outlook in expectation that its core business revenue would grow more than 20 percent this year on stronger customer demand and limited capacity.
Earlier this year, ASE projected that revenue from its chip assembly and testing services would this year be double the estimated revenue growth of the semiconductor industry.
“We are seeing stronger assembly and testing manufacturing demand than our previous target,” ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu (吳田玉) told an online investors’ conference. “Our sentiment is better than our previous guidance. The momentum will last into next year.”
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
Customer demand indicates that there would be better than seasonal demand in the first quarter next year, Wu said.
That might create an unusual situation in which the first quarter could be better than the fourth, he added.
ASE expects that supply and demand balance would be reached in 2023, given long manufacturing equipment delivery time stretching to about one year, Wu said.
“Next year, we still need to be smart and efficient in managing the bottleneck,” he added.
In response to investors’ concern about double booking, Wu said inventory correction might occur, but it should be temporary and limited to certain regions.
It would have a limited impact on ASE’s overall business momentum, he added.
Many of its customers had signed long-term service agreements and intend to extend such contracts to 2023, the company said, adding that long-term supply agreements were announced in April as customers sought to secure capacity amid a supply crunch.
In this quarter, ASE expects assembly and testing manufacturing shipments to expand 12 percent from the second quarter, while average selling prices are to hold steady at last quarter’s level, it said.
Gross margin could improve about 1.2 percentage points this quarter from 25.6 percent last quarter, the company said, after already reaching its target of 25 percent for the year.
ASE also expects gross-margin improvement next year.
ASE yesterday posted 49 percent annual growth in net profit to NT$10.34 billion (US$370 million) during the second quarter, compared with NT$6.94 billion. That represented a quarterly increase of 22 percent from NT$8.48 billion.
Earnings per share rose to NT$2.4 last quarter from NT$1.63 a year earlier and NT$1.97 a quarter earlier.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
RSS