Chip tester King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電子), which counts Nvidia Corp and Broadcom Inc among its customers, yesterday raised this year’s capital expenditure by 37 percent to a new record high of NT$37 billion (US$1.24 billion) from its previous estimate, to accelerate capacity expansion amid growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips and customized application-specific ICs for AI applications.
It was the second hike by King Yuan this year from a NT$26.97 billion budget approved by its board of directors in May, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
On an annual basis, that represented a spike from NT$14.86 billion spent last year on new facilities and equipment.
Photo: CNA
The company in May also said it has acquired a new manufacturing facility for NT$327 million in Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) in a bid to expand high-end chip testing capacity.
In addition, King Yuan said the board has approved a new capital injection plan of S$100 million (US$77.8 million) for its Singaporean subsidiary, KYEC Singapore Pte Ltd, according to a separate company filing.
The new funding plan triggered speculation that King Yuan is mulling to build a new fab in the city-state amid growing geopolitical risks.
As part of the firm’s capacity expansion efforts, the board of directors yesterday also approved a plan to issue 80 million new shares via a rights issue to its existing shareholders to fund the purchases of new manufacturing equipment.
King Yuan yesterday reported that net profit soared 98 percent to NT$6.47 billion in the first half of this year, compared with NT$3.27 billion in the same period of last year.
That translated into earnings per share of NT$5.29 in the first half, up from NT$2.68 a year earlier.
Gross margin rose mildly to 34.56 percent from 34.19 percent.
Revenue expanded 25.34 percent year-on-year to NT$16.68 billion in the first half of this year, from NT$12.52 billion.
The company did not give the latest revenue breakdown, but company data showed that final test services was the biggest revenue contributor in the first quarter, accounting for 45.7 percent. Wafer probing services came next with a 37.2 percent share.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip
RSS