Flat-panel maker AUO Corp (友達) yesterday said its losses in the first quarter of this year widened to NT$10.91 billion (US$355.3 million) due to sluggish demand for notebook computers from enterprise customers and unfavorable foreign exchange rates.
However, the company retained its growth outlook for the remainder of this year.
It was the fourth straight unprofitable quarter for the Hsinchu-based company, after registering a quarterly loss of NT$10.21 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
AUO blamed a foreign exchange loss of NT$1.1 billion and fewer solar module shipments for the worse-than-expected performance.
Losses in its display business improved NT$2.4 billion from the previous quarter, thanks to a pickup in panel demand for TVs, consumer PCs and consumer electronics, as panels approach supply-demand parity in the second quarter, AUO said.
Gross margin worsened to minus-9.5 percent, compared with minus-8.7 percent in the previous quarter, the company said.
“With panel supply-demand dynamics returning to a balance, prices of most panel products will stop stabilizing and even start to rebound. Therefore, we believe [revenue] will increase each quarter in the remainder of this year,” AUO chairman Paul Peng (彭浪) told an online investors’ conference.
“The second quarter will be better than the first quarter,” Peng said. “The second half will be better than the first half, based on the messages from our customers.”
The company expects a seasonal uptick in the second half, Peng said.
AUO said it has begun seeing inventory buildup demand from Chinese customers ahead of the nation’s 618 shopping festival in June, and expects the year-end holiday season in the US and Europe to further fuel panel demand in the second half.
As Chinese consumers remain conservative about spending after the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted at the beginning of this year, AUO said it is closely monitoring their spending behavior.
This quarter, shipments of TV and PC panels are expected to rise about 20 percent quarter-on-quarter, AUO said.
Average selling prices are expected to remain flat or increase mildly from US$322 per square meter during the first quarter, it said.
The company said flat panels used in vehicles would be the bright spot this quarter, with revenue from that segment expected to top NT$10 billion.
Factory utilization would increase significantly from 66 percent last quarter, AUO said.
Although most panel makers are raising equipment usage to cope with increasing demand, AUO said it does not expect oversupply risks, given most production expansion was undertaken in a disciplined manner.
To avoid boom-and-bust cycles, AUO said it is accelerating its diversification efforts and aims to boost non-panel revenue contribution to more than 20 percent in the next two to three years, from 14 percent last year.
AUO said capital spending for this year would be NT$35 billion.
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
TECH WINNERS: Taiwan and South Korea reported robust trade, which suggests that they have critical advantages in the rapidly expanding AI supply chain, an official said Exports last month surged to a new high, as booming demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure fueled shipments of advanced technology components, underscoring the nation’s pivotal role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Outbound shipments climbed to US$80.18 billion, the highest ever for a single month, rising 61.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the 29th consecutive month of growth, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “The surge was driven primarily by global investment in AI infrastructure,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said. The mass production of next-generation AI computing systems has accelerated procurement across the semiconductor supply
RSS