Nytex Composites Co (耐特科技), which makes specialty plastic compounds, expects revenue contribution from semiconductor materials to rise to more than 23 percent this year due to growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced chips.
That would represent a big jump from 16.25 percent of total revenue last year and a mere 4.36 percent in 2023.
The Changhua County-based company tapped into the semiconductor sector in 2020, as it sought to transform itself into a supplier of high-value materials amid intensifying market competition.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
Revenue expanded 19.24 percent last year to NT$2.54 billion (US$77.57 million) from NT$2.13 billion in 2023, company data showed.
Nytex’s biggest revenue sources come from specialty plastics used in everyday life goods, such as office furniture, office automation, suitcases and mechanical parts, making up about 33 percent.
“Semiconductor materials are our new revenue driver, adding to the company’s already very diversified revenue sources,” Nytex chairman Jason Chen (陳勳森) told reporters during a factory tour on Thursday, adding that he was positive about this year’s growth.
Established in 1988, Nytex started supplying specialty plastic compounds in 2020 to Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), which at the time was scrambling to find a domestic supplier due to supply disruptions from overseas, Chen said.
Gudeng makes extreme ultraviolet pods, advanced front-opening unified pods and wafer cassettes for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Intel Corp, Chinese and South Korean chipmakers.
Nytex has spent NT$100 million to build two production lines in Changhua County to produce specialty plastic compounds, doubling the capacity from two years ago, to cope with rapidly growing demand for semiconductor materials used in advanced wafer pods and cassettes, which transport wafers during the chip manufacturing process, it said.
“We started looking into the premium material business about six years ago, as we found that Chinese manufacturers were ready to ramp up mass production of [mid-end] materials. A majority of premium materials are for semiconductors, which was totally new to us,” Nytex president Henry Chen (陳宇涵) said.
In China, Nytex plans to ramp up its first production line in Shanghai to supply semiconductor materials used in less advanced wafer pods for Chinese chipmakers, which make chips on less advanced process technologies such as 28 nanometer technology, it said.
Nytex is also set to supply plastic compounds used in IC trays, which are used in advanced packaging technology, chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) technology, next quarter, Jason Chen said.
Nytex’s plastic compounds are also used in back-up battery units, which are equipped within AI servers to prevent data losses and equipment damage during power outages, it said.
The company operates six production lines to supply plastic compounds used in electronics and other products, in addition to 10 production lines in Taiwan to supply plastic compounds to make heat sinks for Wi-Fi routers, vehicle parts, connectors and bicycle parts among others.
The company plans to submit an application for an initial public offering this year.
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