Chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp’s (力積電) losses narrowed last quarter thanks to investment gains on technology transfer, the company said on Tuesday.
During the March quarter, Powerchip lost NT$1.1 billion (US$33.9 million), compared with losses of NT$1.5 billion in the previous quarter. That was the sixth quarterly loss in a row.
The company attributed the improvement to an investment gain of NT$1.68 billion from India’s Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd. Last year, Powerchip inked an agreement with Tata to help build India’s first 12-inch chip manufacturing facility by providing Tata with access to its mature technology nodes.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
Powerchip’s gross margin improved to minus-4.8 percent last quarter from minus-11 percent in the prior quarter, after its factory utilization rate rose to 73 percent, the company said.
The US’ tariffs policy would not significantly impact the company’s business, as it only sends sample wafers to US customers, Powerchip president Martin Chu (朱獻國) said at an online earnings conference.
The uncertainty about the tariff war would still weigh on the company’s business outlook, Chu said.
“We have received rush orders since the beginning of this year. We are still seeing some in April, but the visibility blurs for May and June, indicating customers are likely taking a wait-and-see attitude,” Chu said.
European and US customers contributed 24 percent to its revenue last quarter, up from 18 percent in the previous quarter, while Taiwan remained the biggest revenue source, making up 53 percent of the total, the company said.
The company continues its transformation efforts to focus more on power management chips and less on DRAM chips, aiming to boost power management chip revenue to account for 40 percent of total revenue this year and eventually 60 percent, Chu said.
Last quarter, power management chips accounted for 23 percent of total revenue, he said.
Powerchip said its new fab in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區), which has an installed capacity of 85,000 12-inch wafers a month, has not reached economic scale yet.
The company plans to spend US$453 million on new facilities and equipment this year, it said.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
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