Staff Reporter, in HSINCHU COUNTY
Semiconductor equipment manufacturer Skytech Inc (天虹科技) yesterday gave a rosy business outlook for next year on expectations that revenue would grow at least 20 percent year-on-year, thanks to robust demand for advanced chip manufacturing and its new advanced packaging equipment.
The forecast is based on its clear order visibility through the middle of next year, the company said. To satisfy customers’ growing demand, Skytech is expanding its clean room in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口). The new clean room would be one-and-half times larger than the original one, when it is ready by the end of this year, it said.
Photo: Screenshot from Skytech Inc’s Web site
“We are upbeat about the 2025 outlook. We expect to see a similar growth pattern as this year, with a growth rate of more than 20 percent,” Skytech CEO George Yi (易錦良) said yesterday. “We have landed new orders from major chipmakers to supply equipment used in advanced packaging technology that is similar to the chip-on-wafer-on-substrate technology.”
Skytech is shipping physical vapor deposition tools, bonders and de-bonders used in advanced packaging technology, Yi said.
Some products are under customer review in preparation for future shipments, he said.
The company also secured new orders to supply atomic layer deposition equipment, which is used in the front-end chip manufacturing process, Yi said.
During the first 10 months of this year, Skytech’s revenue grew 18.33 percent to NT$1.69 billion (US$51.9 million) from NT$1.43 billion a year earlier. With more revenue coming in later this quarter, the company said revenue would climb to an all-time high this quarter.
Skytech is among a few Taiwanese companies that design and produce key equipment used in the chip manufacturing process. It has a broad customer base that includes Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電).
Semiconductor equipment made up about 50 percent of Skytech’s total revenue, including advanced front-end chip manufacturing equipment and packaging equipment, which accounted for about 20 percent of the firm’s total revenue.
Another half of revenue came from supplying components and parts to chipmakers, chip testing and packaging service providers, and other vendors, the firm said.
During the first three quarters, Skytech’s net profit soared 64.15 percent year-over-year to NT$261 million, from NT$159 million during the same period last year. That translated into earnings per share of NT$3.87, up from NT$2.62 in the same period a year earlier.
As Skytech has a 30-percent exposure to the Chinese market, it is closely monitoring how the geopolitical tension changes. Currently, local semiconductor equipment makers are not subject to any export ban yet.
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