ITH Corp, the world’s second-biggest supplier of computer display driver ICs, yesterday said it aimed to grow revenue by a double-digit percentage next year, driven by rising shipments of OLED display driver ICs used in smartphones and touch display driver ICs used in electric vehicles and artificial intelligence (AI) products.
ITH is a holding company, 11 percent owned by mobile phone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) through its venture capital arm Gaintech Co (訊發). ITH holds 100 percent of Ili Technology Corp (奕力科技), a display driver IC designer based in Hsinchu County. Ili shares were delisted from the local stock market in 2016 after being acquired by MediaTek.
ITH is scheduled to debut its shares on the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Nov. 26. It is to offer 288 million shares at an initial price of NT$34.48 each tomorrow.
Photo: Vanessa Cho, Taipei Times
“Combining with MediaTek’s touch display driver IC team, ITH has evolved into a company with stronger product design capabilities and full product coverage,” company chairman Wayne Liang (梁公偉) told a news briefing in Taipei. “Looking at next year, we are expecting growth.”
Liang said he did not expect the US presidential election to have a material impact on Taiwan’s electronics industry, adding that the market mechanism would dominate.
If former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump returns to office and raises import tariffs, those hikes would ultimately be passed on to consumers, he said.
The industry had similar experiences during Trump’s first term, when he dramatically raised tariffs on TV chips, he added.
“For next year, we are looking at double-digit percentage growth. Based on our preliminary estimates, we are to benefit [in terms of manufacturing costs] from increases in 28-nanometer display driver IC capacity from China next year,” ITH president Bruce Chen (陳泰元) said. “With the introduction of AI PCs and [new-generation energy] vehicles, we expect better growth of touch and display driver integration chips next year due to a lower base.”
ITH is a new entrant to the vehicle display driver IC market, concentrating on supplying touch and display driver integration chips for central information displays, which have become the must-have for new energy vehicles, adding a new revenue stream from this year.
ITH is to ship its central information display driver ICs for the first time this year, and has already surpassed its annual goal, it said.
The company added that it has secured design-in projects for more than 20 models since it created the business team in 2022.
ITH’s customers include AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創), the world’s major vehicle display suppliers, as well as China’s BOE Technology Group Co (京東方).
Their displays are installed in the world’s main auto brands such as Volkswagen Group and BMW Group, and used by the world’s top five notebook computer vendors.
ITH would expand its product portfolios in the notebook computer segment to solve an over concentration issue, Chen said.
About 75 percent of the company’s revenue came from smartphone display driver ICs during the first half of this year, company data showed.
As Beijing has stopped subsidizing chip design houses, ITH is facing less fierce competition from Chinese rivals, Chen said.
Notebook computer display driver ICs made up about 15 percent of revenue, while the remaining 10 percent came from driver ICs for industrial devices and vehicles, he said.
The company posted NT$11.25 billion (US$351.99 million) in revenue during the first half of this year. Gross margin was 30.03 percent.
Net profits amounted to NT$1.53 billion during the first two quarters, exceeding the full-year net profit of NT$1.1 billion it reported for last year.
ITH said its bottom line started picking up this year from a trough last year after riding through an inventory correction.
South Korea’s equity benchmark yesterday crossed a new milestone just a month after surpassing the once-unthinkable 5,000 mark as surging global memory demand powers the country’s biggest chipmakers. The KOSPI advanced as much as 2.6 percent to a record 6,123, with Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc each gaining more than 2 percent. With the benchmark now up 45 percent this year, South Korea’s stock market capitalization has also moved past France’s, following last month’s overtaking of Germany’s. Long overlooked by foreign funds, despite being undervalued, South Korean stocks have now emerged as clear winners in the global market. The so-called “artificial intelligence
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
‘SEISMIC SHIFT’: The researcher forecast there would be about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior year and erasing years of gains The global smartphone market is expected to contract 12.9 percent this year due to the unprecedented memorychip shortage, marking “a crisis like no other,” researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said. The new forecast, a dramatic revision down from earlier estimates, gives the latest accounting of the ongoing memory crunch that is affecting every corner of the electronics industry. The demand for advanced memory to power artificial intelligence (AI) tasks has drained global supply until well into next year and jeopardizes the business model of many smartphone makers. IDC forecast about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior
People stand in a Pokemon store in Tokyo on Thursday. One of the world highest-grossing franchises is celebrated its 30th anniversary yesterday.
RSS