Yageo Corp (國巨) yesterday reported its best quarterly net profit in nearly three years, but said that its growth momentum could be disrupted this quarter by a global chip shortage.
On top of that, market demand for consumer electronics and mobile devices has shown some softness in the Greater China region, Yageo told an online investors’ conference.
Net profit last quarter surged 87.6 percent to NT$6.81 billion (US$244.7 million) from NT$3.63 billion a year earlier, and grew 7.6 percent from NT$6.33 billion the previous quarter, company data showed.
Photo: Chang Hui-wen, Taipei Times
Gross margin improved to 41.1 percent last quarter, compared with 37.4 percent a year earlier and 41 percent in the second quarter.
“Moving into the fourth quarter, the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet eased and a supply shortage of IC components has caused shipment delays for some clients,” Yageo chief executive officer David Wang (王淡如) said.
“Clients tend to be relatively conservative in the stocking of electronic components due to China’s power restrictions,” he added.
The power curbs are likely to affect the output of Yageo’s clients and exert a certain impact on supply chains, but not on Yageo, Wang said.
“The impact on Yageo is insignificant,” he said.
The company is lowering utilization rates at factories that produce lower-margin standard products to about 70 percent this quarter to keep inventory in check, Wang said.
However, factories that make premium products continue to run at full capacity, he said.
High-end products, including passive components used in vehicles, account for about 75 percent of Yageo’s overall revenue.
Automotive passive components alone accounted for 19 percent.
“The company still sees a strong book-to-bill ratio of more than 1, thanks to robust demand from the automotive, industrial, 5G infrastructure and notebook sectors,” Wang said.
Revenue this quarter would “decline moderately” from NT$29.39 billion last quarter, but the company is striving to keep gross margin at above 39.1 percent through production optimization and raising operational efficiency, he added.
Net profit in the first three quarters soared 95.7 percent to NT$18.15 billion, compared with NT$9.27 billion in the corresponding period last year.
Earnings per share rose to NT$36.79 from NT$20.03. Revenue jumped 77.9 percent to NT$80.85 billion from NT$45.45 billion in the preceding year, after merging Kemet Corp in the second quarter.
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
Garment maker Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) yesterday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue of NT$7.93 billion (US$251.44 million), down 9.48 percent from NT$8.76 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, revenue fell 10.83 percent from NT$8.89 billion, company data showed. The figure was also lower than market expectations of NT$8.05 billion, according to data compiled by Yuanta Securities Investment and Consulting Co (元大投顧), which had projected NT$8.22 billion. Makalot’s revenue this quarter would likely increase by a mid-teens percentage as the industry is entering its high season, Yuanta said. Overall, Makalot’s revenue last year totaled NT$34.43 billion, down 3.08 percent from its record NT$35.52