Wafer probing service provider Chunghwa Precision Test Technology Co (中華精測) yesterday said it aimed to grow revenue by a double-digit percentage this year, benefiting primarily from rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chips.
Increasing demand for products ranging from AI-enabled servers to edge devices with AI features such as smartphones, PCs and notebook computers are stimulating demand for the company’s advanced wafer probing services, boosting probe card revenue, Chunghwa Precision Test Technology president Scott Huang (黃水可) said.
“We are seeing exuberant development of the AI industry,” Huang said. “Adding AI features to smartphones and PCs is igniting new growth momentum. Forecasts by customers show that 2024 will be better than 2023, that is for sure.”
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
The probing card business would be a major growth area this year, as the firm has secured new customers that develop smartphone chips, SSD controllers and Wi-Fi 7 chips, the company said.
As a result, Chunghwa Precision Test Technology is targeting a more than 40 percent increase in its probe card revenue contribution this year from 33 percent last quarter, Huang said.
Gross margin is expected to rebound to its normal range of between 50 and 55 percent this year, as the probe card business has better margins, he said.
The company’s gross margin improved to 49.8 percent last quarter from 48.8 percent in the third quarter last year, but is down from 51.1 percent last quarter.
Chunghwa Precision Test Technology focuses on designing and manufacturing printed circuit boards for semiconductor testers, such as load boards for final testing and probe cards for wafer probing.
With the industry’s inventory correction cycle approaching its end, the firm expects a lukewarm pickup in the first half, Huang said.
There is a lack of clear signs indicating a full recovery of demand for electronics, he said.
China, with its slowing economy and troubled property market, and Europe have shown weakness in electronics spending, he said.
“Consumer consumption is a major concern,” Huang said. “We have not seen spending on electronics coming back yet. Rather, people are spending their money on travel and luxury bags.”
The growth momentum would pick up in the second half of this year, he said.
Net profit surged 60.28 percent sequentially to NT$17.47 billion (US$554.74 million) last quarter, compared with NT$10.9 billion in the third quarter last year, marking the third straight quarter of profit and the best quarterly earnings last year as the company and its customers battled a prolonged inventory correction and sluggish demand.
The company’s operating profit was NT$15.51 million last quarter, reversing an operating loss of NT$17.24 million a quarter earlier.
Last year as a whole, Chunghwa Precision Test Technology booked an operating loss of NT$52.72 million.
Net profit plummeted about 96 percent to NT$29.5 million last year from NT$782.57 million in 2022, the weakest annual net profit since 2012.
Earnings per share dipped to NT$0.99 last year from NT$23.5 the prior year.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
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