Grand Process Technology Corp (GPTC, 弘塑科技), a supplier of advanced chip packaging equipment to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), yesterday said it can only supply half of customers’ demand through the first half of next year due to excessive demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
The company’s remarks echoed TSMC’s previous comments on robust demand for its advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) chip packaging technology, which is primarily used to package AI chips for Nvidia Corp.
“We expect our factories to continue operating at 100 percent through the first half of next year,” GPTC vice president Travis Liang (梁勝銓) said on the sidelines of an investors’ conference in Taipei.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
“Our supply lags far behind customers’ demand,” he added.
Based on customers’ solid demand, the company sees no clear signs of an AI bubble, Liang said.
As the growth momentum for CoWoS equipment is expected to carry into next year, GPTC holds an optimistic view about revenue growth, Liang said.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
Revenue soared about 53 percent year-over-year to NT$4.9 billion (US$155.6 million) in the first 10 months of this year, company data showed.
GPTC supplies semiconductor wet processing equipment for CoWoS packaging technology, including wet benches, wet cleaning and single wafer set processing systems. The company counts ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) and South Korean memory makers among its major customers.
“We believe the company’s operations would continue to thrive over the next three to five years, as reflected in the increases in equipment we delivered,” Liang said.
The company said it is partially bullish about the adoption of new panel-level packaging technology.
GPTC said it has shipped the first batch of equipment for panel-level packaging technology to a customer this year.
The company said it expects to ship more such equipment to customers in the coming months.
GPTC expects shipments to increase mildly next year due to capacity scarcity, Liang said.
The company’s installed capacity is expected to double next year after a new manufacturing facility starts operations in the second quarter of next year, he said.
More capacity expansion plans are under evaluation, he added.
GPTC is jointly developing equipment for new panel-level packaging technology called chip-on-panel-on-substrate (CoPoS), Liang said.
The CoPoS technology, developed by TSMC, is expected to enter volume production in 2028 at the earliest, he said.
The company’s net profit increased 39.8 percent annually, or 47.8 percent sequentially, to NT$303 million in the third quarter of this year. That translated into earnings per share of NT$10.4.
Gross margin improved slightly to 40.7 percent from 40.6 percent in the second quarter, a decline from 48.1 percent in the third quarter last year.
GPTC said it expects gross margin to start picking up gradually after hitting the bottom last quarter.
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