Shares of semiconductor equipment maker Skytech Inc (天虹科技) soared 85.22 percent in the company’s debut on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, closing at NT$213, compared with the firm’s initial public offering price of NT$115.
Skytech aims to boost its revenue by 20 percent next year, outpacing the expected growth of the overall semiconductor industry.
The Hsinchu-based firm is among only a few Taiwanese companies that design and produce key equipment used in the chip manufacturing process.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
It has a broad customer base that includes Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電).
Skytech’s revenue in the first three quarters of this year grew 12.83 percent year-on-year to NT$1.34 billion (US$42.53 million), with 70 percent generated by equipment used to produce compound semiconductors.
“We are looking at faster [revenue] growth than the overall semiconductor industry next year. That is our internal target,” Skytech chairman Paul Huang (黃見駱) told a media briefing in Taipei on Monday. “The main growth driver will come from the third-generation semiconductor, or compound semiconductor, segment primarily from China.”
Skytech expects revenue to climb to a new high next year, when the global semiconductor industry is expected to resume growth, expanding by 20 percent, according to an estimate by market researcher IDC Corp.
Skytech produces physical vapor deposition (PVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment and charges 20 percent less than its major competitors.
ALD equipment an important part of next-generation semiconductor manufacturing.
The global PVD market is expected to expand at an annual compound rate of 5.8 percent to US$45.86 billion from last year to 2029, with the fastest growth in the Asia-Pacific region, Maximize Market Research said last month.
Applied Materials Inc is a key player in the PVD market, it said.
Skytech said it is working with its customers to design new equipment used in advanced technologies from 2.5-dimension to 3-dimension packaging technologies such as chip-on-wafer-on-substrate technology, as well as new silicon photonics technology, which ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packager, and TSMC consider a crucial technology for the future of semiconductor manufacturing.
Skytech also supplies components and parts to chip makers, chip testing and packaging service providers, and other vendors.
The US’ semiconductor export curbs on China are not expected to affect Skytech’s business, as semiconductor components are not among the restrictions, the company said.
There is greater growth potential from Chinese semiconductor makers, as China is racing to increase chip self-sufficiency, it said.
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS