Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), on Saturday forecast revenue this year would increase more than 20 percent from last year.
The forecast is higher than the company’s 13 percent increase in revenue last year and could bring its revenue to a new high of NT$5.08 billion (US$162.54 million) this year, as the world’s semiconductor industry is expected to resume healthy growth following a slump last year.
The best-case scenario would be annual growth of 40 percent in revenue, Gudeng said
Photo: CNA
Earlier this month, TSMC projected an annual increase of up to 25 percent in revenue this year on the back of robust demand for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing chips.
“We are optimistic about this year’s business outlook, riding on the hype of artificial intelligence chips, which is driving the business of our major customers,” Gudeng chairman Bill Chiu (邱銘乾) told reporters on the sidelines of a company event in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽).
Gudeng said it has secured a new order from a US-based customer to supply wafer pods, which are box-like front-opening unified pods (FOUP) for shipping, transporting and storing wafers, used in the production process of advanced technology as well as advanced packaged technology, which is similar to TSMC’s chip-on-wafer-on-substrate technology.
Another growth area would be China, as Gudeng’s FOUPs are commonly used by Chinese semiconductor companies for new fabs, winning market share from its major US competitor, Chiu said.
An ongoing US-China technology rivalry has prevented Chinese chipmakers from using US-made components, he said.
Revenue contribution from China rose to 31 percent of Gudeng’s total revenue last year, from 17 percent in 2022, the company said.
About 22 new chip manufacturing facilities are under construction in China, mostly focusing on making less advanced chips, in addition to 44 existing fabs, market researcher TrendFore Corp’s (集邦科技) data showed.
To satisfy rising demand, Gudeng is expanding capacity in Taiwan and China, aiming to more than double its wafer carrier capacity to 26,000 units a month by the end of this year, from 12,000.
“We have reasons to be optimistic, given robust demand for mask pods, FOUPs as well as the noncore business of electronic components used in aircraft,” Chiu said.
Meanwhile, revenue at Gudeng aviation subsidiary Jyr Aviation Component Co (朝宇航太科技) is expected to rise to NT$500 million this year from NT$100 million last year thanks to a rebound in travel after the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said.
Jyr Aviation counts Boeing Co and GE Electric Co among its customers, Gudeng said.
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Property transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities plunged last month, as a lengthy Lunar New Year holiday combined with ongoing credit tightening dampened housing market activity, data compiled by local land administration offices released on Monday showed. The six cities recorded a total of 10,480 property transfers last month, down 42.5 percent from January and marking the second-lowest monthly level on record, the data showed. “The sharp drop largely reflected seasonal factors and tighter credit conditions,” Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research manager Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday fell in February this year, reducing
New vehicle sales in Taiwan plunged about 37 percent sequentially last month as the long Lunar New Year holiday and 228 Peace Memorial Day holiday cut short the number of working days, along with the lingering uncertainty over import tax cuts on US vehicles, market researcher U-Car said in a report yesterday. New car sales last month totaled 22,043, slumping from 35,073 units in January and down 19.89 percent from 37,515 in February last year, U-Car data showed. Sales of imported luxury cars, led by Mercedes-Benz, plummeted about 45 percent to 3,109 units last month from 5,663 units in the previous month,