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.
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