PentaPro Materials Inc (宇川精材), which produces metal organic precursors used in advanced chip production, yesterday said it plans to invest NT$3 billion (US$95.17 million) in a new factory in Taiwan to meet rising demand.
The company’s main facility is approaching full capacity as customers continue to advance manufacturing process technologies to create smaller chips with more complicated architecture, PentaPro told a news conference in Taipei.
The company’s semiconductor precursors are high-purity chemical liquids used in chip manufacturing. They provide source materials for depositing thin films mainly using atomic layer deposition to form integrated circuits. The process is primarily used in the production of logic and memory chips smaller than 16 nanometers.
Photo: Chang Hui-wen, Taipei Times
PentaPro is a supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker.
“Utilization of the existing factory is running in high gear now,” PentaPro co-CEO C.Y. Chen (陳建榮) said. “One of our major advantages is local supply. We are running out of space, so we have to build a second factory.”
Chipmakers prefer the local supply of semiconductor precursors, as the chemicals are primary chemical hazards and can only be transported through ocean shipping, a time-consuming practice compared with air freight for chips.
The new factory would have an installed capacity six to 10 times greater than the existing plant, when it enters operation in 2028, PentaPro said.
The company is collaborating with multiple customers to jointly develop new precursors and to produce them for customers on a contract basis, chairman and co-CEO Kuo Wen-che (郭文哲) said.
To cope with growing demand, PentaPro said it is revamping an older production line to produce advanced semiconductor precursors later this year.
It expects revenue this year to grow significantly higher than last year, thanks to strong customer demand and new capacity.
Cumulative revenue in the first 11 months of last year totaled NT$121 million, a dramatic increase from full-year revenue of NT$61 million in 2024, company data showed.
Semiconductor precursors accounted for more than 70 percent of the company’s revenue last year, PentaPro said.
However, the company lost NT$97 million in the first half of last year, or losses per share of NT$0.97, as additional costs for equipment purchases and technology adjustments dented the company’s gross margin, it said.
A smaller revenue scale was also a factor, PentaPro chief financial officer Joseph Chen (陳祖華) said.
The company swung into a monthly profit in November, as gross margin improved, he said.
PentaPro is scheduled to debut its shares on the Emerging Stock Board on Tuesday next week.
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