Passive components maker Yageo Corp (國巨) yesterday said revenue would be flat or grow modestly this quarter amid steady market demand, ending three straight quarters of declines.
Yageo’s revenue has dropped for three straight quarters amid sluggish demand and excessive inventory.
In the first quarter of this year, revenue contracted 9.5 percent quarter-on-quarter and 13.4 percent year-on-year to NT$26.1 billion (US$852.6 million), while net income shrank 0.8 percent quarterly and 33.8 percent annually to NT$4.13 billion, the company said.
Photo: Chang Hui-wen, Taipei Times
Yageo CEO David Wang (王淡如) said revenue would stop falling this quarter and likely be flat or increase slightly from last quarter.
“Hopefully, this will be a good sign,” he told an online investors’ conference in Taipei. “Visibility is not clear yet, but the second half of the year is usually a high season and will be slightly higher than the first half.”
Gross margin would improve slightly from 33 percent in the first quarter, primarily due to cost management and a better product portfolio, he said.
Yageo’s gross margin has fallen since it posted 38.8 percent in the second quarter of last year.
The average selling prices of Yageo products is expected to be stable this quarter, it said.
INVENTORY WOES
Yageo executive vice president of global sales and marketing Claudio Lollini said the firm’s inventory level remains quite high, particularly at global distributors, even though the situation is slightly better in China.
Demand for passive components used in smartphones and laptop computers has not returned to the pre-slump level, Lollini said, but added that Yageo continues to see encouraging signs from the industrial and automotive segments.
Components for the two segments were the biggest revenue sources last quarter, contributing 23 percent and 31 percent respectively.
Factory utilization would hold steady at 70 percent for its premium products this quarter, Wang said, adding that utilization for its commodity products would be unchanged at 40 to 50 percent.
Premium passive components, including multilayer ceramic capacitors, contributed 75 percent to Yageo’s total revenue last quarter, with commodity components making up the remaining 25 percent.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has secured three construction permits for its plan to build a state-of-the-art A14 wafer fab in Taichung, and is likely to start construction soon, the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, Wang Chun-chieh (王俊傑), deputy director general of the science park bureau, said the world’s largest contract chipmaker has received three construction permits — one to build a fab to roll out sophisticated chips, another to build a central utility plant to provide water and electricity for the facility and the other to build three office buildings. With the three permits, TSMC
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
The DBS Foundation yesterday announced the launch of two flagship programs, “Silver Motion” and “Happier Caregiver, Healthier Seniors,” in partnership with CCILU Ltd, Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation and the Garden of Hope Foundation to help Taiwan face the challenges of a rapidly aging population. The foundation said it would invest S$4.91 million (US$3.8 million) over three years to foster inclusion and resilience in an aging society. “Aging may bring challenges, but it also brings opportunities. With many Asian markets rapidly becoming super-aged, the DBS Foundation is working with a regional ecosystem of like-minded partners across the private, public and people sectors
BREAKTHROUGH TECH: Powertech expects its fan-out PLP system to become mainstream, saying it can offer three-times greater production throughput Chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) plans to more than double its capital expenditures next year to more than NT$40 billion (US$1.31 billion) as demand for its new panel-level packaging (PLP) technology, primarily used in chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, has greatly exceeded what it can supply. A significant portion of the budget, about US$1 billion, would be earmarked for fan-out PLP technology, Powertech told investors yesterday. Its heavy investment in fan-out PLP technology over the past 10 years is expected to bear fruit in 2027 after the technology enters volume production, it said, adding that the tech would
RSS