Phoenix Silicon International Corp (昇陽半導體), the world’s No. 2 supplier of reclaimed wafers, on Friday said it planned to more than double its capital expenditures for this year to NT$7.9 billion (US$264.1 million), up from the NT$3.53 billion budget approved by the company’s board of directors in December last year.
As the company accelerates its capacity expansion, its annual reclaimed wafer output is expected to grow about 35 percent year-on-year to 850,000 wafers per month, up from 650,000 wafers last year, it said in a statement.
Monthly capacity is projected to surge 41 percent next year, reaching 1.2 million wafers, it said.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
“Demand for artificial intelligence [AI] and high-performance computing applications is surging, driving rapid interest for front-end process technologies and back-end packaging,” Phoenix chief executive officer Tony Tsai (蔡幸川) said in the statement.
“The supply chain is being pushed on two fronts: technology upgrades and capacity expansion. Our rising capital expenditures indicate we are progressing well in line with customers’ growth,” he said.
Phoenix reported that net profit for the first half of this year surged 98 percent to NT$330 million, up from NT$166 million a year earlier, with earnings per share rising to NT$1.91 from NT$0.96, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Gross margin also improved significantly, rising to 35 percent in the first half from 23.2 percent a year earlier, the filing said.
AI chips produced using leading-edge process technologies consume more reclaimed wafers than those made on older nodes, as their fabrication requires more delicate processing and extensive equipment testing to ensure optimal yields, Phoenix said.
The consumption of reclaimed wafers is expected to rise further as customers ramp up production of 2-nanometer chips later this year, the company said.
Although Phoenix did not disclose specific customers, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) is the only chipmaker in the world scheduled to begin producing 2-nanometer chips this year.
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