United Integrated Services Co (UIS, 漢唐), which helps Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) build chip manufacturing facilities and install clean rooms, yesterday delivered an upbeat revenue outlook for the year, citing robust demand for chipmaking capacity expansion.
The company told shareholders it expects revenue to surpass last year’s, driven by deepening partnerships with TSMC on new 2-nanometer fabrication plants and advanced chip packaging facilities using chip-on-wafer-on-substrate technology in Taiwan, amid surging demand for artificial intelligence chips.
“With company revenue showing year-over-year growth in April and May, we are holding an optimistic view about the rest of this year. That is based on the orders we have confirmed,” UIS chairwoman Belle Lee (李惠文) told reporters on the sidelines of the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in New Taipei City.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
UIS posted NT$4.98 billion (US$166.25) in revenue last month, up 28.03 percent from a year earlier, while cumulative revenue for the first five months rose 3.14 percent year-on-year to NT$20.51 billion, company data showed.
The company has also made headway in expanding its operations in Arizona, Japan’s Kumamoto and Singapore. Major clients include TSMC and US memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc.
“In the US, as our customer has confirmed, they are proactively advancing construction of the phase-two facilities. We have received new orders to begin work on the fab,” UIS president Lai Chih-ming (賴志明) told reporters.
The new orders cover a broader range of construction categories than the previous agreement, including clean room installations, mechanical and electrical engineering, specialized equipment setup, and the installation of water and gas piping systems, Lai said.
As its key customer is doubling down on its investment in the US, UIS plans to double its US workforce from 100 to about 200 employees, with a significant portion of the new hires coming from local communities.
In addition to its US projects, UIS is also handling clean room installations in Singapore for VisionPower Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Pte Ltd, a joint venture between contract chipmaker Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and NXP Semiconductors NV.
Although the US’ tariffs policy would raise the cost of equipment and materials such as steel tubes, the impact should be manageable as those materials account for a limited share of their total construction costs, Lai said.
The company is less at risk of foreign exchange rate volatility due to its minimal exposure to the US dollar, Lee said.
“As we are not an export-oriented company, we hold a scant US-dollar position,” she said.
UIS shareholders yesterday gave the go-ahead to a proposed cash dividend distribution of NT$28 per common share. That represents a payout ratio of 85 percent based on the company’s earnings of NT$32.94 per share last year.
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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