Passive components maker Yageo Corp (國巨) yesterday said it expects the acquisition of two European sensor companies to add about NT$13 billion (US$403 million) to its revenue next year, helping the company broaden its product offerings to high-end sensors used in automotive and industrial devices.
The sensor market is a new area for Yageo, the company said.
The new acquisitions would also help the company better shield against industrial downturns and economic headwinds, as its premium products are less volatile than standard passive components used in consumer electronics.
Photo: Chang Hui-wen, Taipei Times
“The acquisitions will accelerate Yageo’s expansions into premium markets such as the automotive segment, allowing the company’s operation to better weather downturns,” Yageo chairman Pierre Chen (陳泰銘) told an investors’ conference in Taipei.
High-end products are to account for 80 percent of the company’s total revenue following the transactions, compared with 75 percent currently, Chen said.
Additionally, Yageo this year could hit its target of boosting automotive-related product revenue to 22 percent, one year earlier than expected, he said.
Chen made the remarks after the company last month unveiled plans to acquire German sensor supplier Heraeus Holding GmbH and France-based Schneider Electric’s Telemecanique sensor business for NT$2.84 billion and NT$12.4 billion respectively.
The firm has a good chance to complete the transactions in the first half of next year, he said.
With higher revenue from premium products, Yageo does not expect to experience the significant drop in gross margin seen by its peers, Chen said, adding that local competitors generated more than 90 percent from standard passive components, and saw gross margin dip to just above 10 percent from 30 percent.
“Companies with high exposure to standard products are going to experience a tough time during the next two years,” he said.
The passive component industry is entering into an inventory-driven downward trend, although excessive inventories in supply chains are expected to level off in the second or third quarter of next year, Chen said.
Yageo has been trying to enter the sensor market since 2015, he added.
The company now has grown into the world’s No. 3 maker of passive components through 20 mergers and acquisitions over the past two decades. Revenue expanded to NT$106.54 billion last year, surging 58 percent from 2020.
Yageo operates 42 factories in 28 countries. About 80 percent of its 45,000 employees are based abroad.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
LIMITED IMPACT: Investor confidence was likely sustained by its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as only less advanced chips are made in Nanjing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) saw its stock price close steady yesterday in a sign that the loss of the validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing, China, fab should have a mild impact on the world’s biggest contract chipmaker financially and technologically. Media reports about the waiver loss sent TSMC down 1.29 percent during the early trading session yesterday, but the stock soon regained strength and ended at NT$1,160, unchanged from Tuesday. Investors’ confidence in TSMC was likely built on its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as Chinese customers contributed about 9 percent to TSMC’s revenue last
LOOPHOLES: The move is to end a break that was aiding foreign producers without any similar benefit for US manufacturers, the US Department of Commerce said US President Donald Trump’s administration would make it harder for Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc to ship critical equipment to their chipmaking operations in China, dealing a potential blow to the companies’ production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. The US Department of Commerce in a notice published on Friday said that it was revoking waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to use US technologies in their Chinese operations. The companies had been operating in China under regulations that allow them to import chipmaking equipment without applying for a new license each time. The move would revise what is known
UNCERTAINTY: A final ruling against the president’s tariffs would upend his trade deals and force the government to content with billions of dollars in refunds The legal fight over US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs is deepening after a federal appeals court ruled the levies were issued illegally under an emergency law, extending the chaos in global trade. A 7-4 decision by a panel of judges on Friday was a major setback for Trump, even as it gives both sides something to boast about. The majority upheld a May ruling by the Court of International Trade that the tariffs were illegal. However, the judges left the levies intact while the case proceeds, as Trump had requested, and suggested that any injunction could potentially be narrowed to apply