The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) yesterday raised its growth forecast for Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, expecting production value to expand about 19.4 percent to NT$4.88 trillion (US$164.24 billion) this year, primarily aided by stronger growth from foundry companies amid a chip crunch.
That means the output of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry would again outpace that of its global peers, which collectively are expected to grow 10.4 percent this year, ITRI said.
The institute three months ago estimated that the production value of the nation’s semiconductor industry would grow 17.7 percent annually to NT$4.81 trillion this year, compared with NT$4.08 trillion last year.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The production value of the foundry sector, the biggest contributor to the industry, is expected to grow 28 percent to top NT$2.49 trillion this year, compared with an earlier estimate of 24 percent expansion, the institute said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest foundry service provider, yesterday posted record revenue of NT$172.56 billion for last month, surging 55 percent annually and up 0.3 percent monthly.
That brought TSMC’s revenue in the first four months of this year to NT$663.64 billion, soaring 40.1 percent from NT$473.73 billion in the same period last year.
Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電), which primarily makes display driver and power management ICs, reported revenue last month surged about 48 percent year-on-year to a record NT$7.33 billion, with cumulative revenue in the first four months jumping 54.14 percent to NT$28.04 billion.
Production value at chip designers, the second-biggest contributor to the nation’s semiconductor industry, are expected to climb 14 percent annually to NT$1.38 trillion this year, the institute said.
Handset chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) reported that revenue increased 43.89 percent annually to NT$52.63 billion last month, the second-largest monthly level in the firm’s history.
Revenue in the four-month period totaled NT$195.34 billion, up 35.08 percent year-on-year, the company said.
ITRI said that local chip testers’ production value would grow 9.6 percent annually to NT$222.5 billion this year, higher than its February estimate of an 8.4 percent rise to NT$220 billion.
However, memorychip makers’ production value would rise 7.6 percent to NT$309.8 billion this year, a downward revision from its February prediction of a 10.7 percent increase to NT$318.8 billion, it said.
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