Msscorps Co (汎銓科技), which provides advanced semiconductor materials and failure analysis services, yesterday forecast revenue to rise next year, thanks to robust demand and overseas lab expansions.
The company said it aims to boost revenue to NT$2.7 billion to NT$2.8 billion (US$85.8 million to US$89 million) next year, up more than 30 percent from an estimated NT$2.1 billion for this year.
Msscorps posted record revenue of NT$207 million for last month, bringing cumulative revenue in the first 11 months of this year to NT$1.97 billion, up 9.7 percent year-on-year.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
The company also expects gross margin to rebound to about 30 percent next year from 20 percent this year, attributable to eased equipment depreciation costs.
Capital expenditure is expected to drop to about NT$500 million next year, from a peak of NT$1.5 billion last year, it said.
Artificial intelligence (AI) chip material analysis would continue to be one of the company’s growth engines next year as Msscorps works with a major customer at its customized “AI zone” in Hsinchu City, Msscorps chairman Gino Leou (柳紀綸) told an earnings conference in Taipei.
By June next year, the AI customer would utilize 75 percent of the “AI zone,” compared with 25 percent this year, Leou said.
The customer is likely to become one of Msscorps’ top five customers, rising from the top 10 this year, he said, without naming the company.
It has been widely speculated that it is Nvidia Corp.
In addition to AI material analysis services, Msscorps also provides material and failure analysis for advanced process technologies, photonic integrated circuit inspections, and overseas fab expansions in China, the US and Japan.
Analysis services for advanced process technologies are expected to contribute a greater revenue share next year from 53.5 percent in the third quarter, Leou said.
Msscorps said its two-year overseas expansion is to bear fruit next year.
Overseas plants are to contribute about 35 percent to the company’s overall revenue next year, Leou said.
About 21 percent of the company’s revenue in the third quarter came from its overseas units, up from 17.4 percent in the same period last year.
The growth from its new labs in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China, would be strong next year, as Chinese chipmakers aggressively build new chip manufacturing facilities and develop homegrown semiconductor equipment amid intensified geopolitical tensions and technology competition, Msscorps said.
Next year, more than 20 new 12-inch fabs are to enter operations in China, boding well for the company’s business prospects, Leou said.
The company also said its US and Japanese units would generate meaningful revenue next year.
The US subsidiary, MSS USA Corp, launched its first advanced lab in Silicon Valley in May to serve US customers from Apple Inc to Nvidia, Applied Materials Inc and Lam Research Corp.
In Japan, Msscorps aims to provide material analysis services of new equipment, new photoresist and new chip packaging materials.
Micron Memory Taiwan Co (台灣美光), a subsidiary of US memorychip maker Micron Technology Inc, has been granted a NT$4.7 billion (US$149.5 million) subsidy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs A+ Corporate Innovation and R&D Enhancement program, the ministry said yesterday. The US memorychip maker’s program aims to back the development of high-performance and high-bandwidth memory chips with a total budget of NT$11.75 billion, the ministry said. Aside from the government funding, Micron is to inject the remaining investment of NT$7.06 billion as the company applied to participate the government’s Global Innovation Partnership Program to deepen technology cooperation, a ministry official told the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s leading advanced chipmaker, officially began volume production of its 2-nanometer chips in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a recent update on the company’s Web site. The low-key announcement confirms that TSMC, the go-to chipmaker for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware providers Nvidia Corp and iPhone maker Apple Inc, met its original roadmap for the next-generation technology. Production is currently centered at Fab 22 in Kaohsiung, utilizing the company’s first-generation nanosheet transistor technology. The new architecture achieves “full-node strides in performance and power consumption,” TSMC said. The company described the 2nm process as
Shares in Taiwan closed at a new high yesterday, the first trading day of the new year, as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued to break records amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 386.21 points, or 1.33 percent, at 29,349.81, with turnover totaling NT$648.844 billion (US$20.65 billion). “Judging from a stronger Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, I think foreign institutional investors returned from the holidays and brought funds into the local market,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Foreign investors just rebuilt their positions with TSMC as their top target,
H200 CHIPS: A source said that Nvidia has asked the Taiwanese company to begin production of additional chips and work is expected to start in the second quarter Nvidia Corp is scrambling to meet demand for its H200 artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Chinese technology companies and has approached contract manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to ramp up production, sources said. Chinese technology companies have placed orders for more than 2 million H200 chips for this year, while Nvidia holds just 700,000 units in stock, two of the people said. The exact additional volume Nvidia intends to order from TSMC remains unclear, they said. A third source said that Nvidia has asked TSMC to begin production of the additional chips and work is expected to start in the second
RSS