Praise Victor Industrial Co (PVI, 頌勝科技) aims to grow its semiconductor business revenue by about 40 percent this year amid robust demand in Taiwan and China, the semiconductor material developer said yesterday.
“Based on the first quarter’s performance, we feel a strong growth momentum. There would be a big jump in overall revenue this year compared with last year,” PVI chief financial officer Tom Lin (林順陽) told a media briefing in Taipei.
Semiconductor business revenue accounted for 61 percent of the company’s total revenue last year, while the remaining 39 percent was from the chemical business, Lin said.
Photo: AFP
The company said the revenue was mainly contributed by its semiconductor subsidiary, IV Technologies Co (智勝科技), the only supplier of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) pads in Taiwan used in chip manufacturing and advanced chip packaging processes.
The market has long been dominated by US-based DuPont Co, which holds about an 80 percent share.
CMP pads are critical, porous and elastic polymer consumables used in semiconductor manufacturing to flatten wafer surfaces. IV Technologies counts Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), China’s Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (晶合) and Micron Technology Inc among its customers.
“Our target is to expand our market share to 10 percent from 3 to 4 percent,” IV Technologies president Wayne Yang (楊偉文) said.
IV Technologies is benefiting from the geopolitical tensions between the US and China, as Chinese chipmakers are replacing US suppliers, Yang said.
“We expect growth from China will be slightly higher than Taiwan this year. Last year, Taiwan and China each accounted for 50 percent of IV Technologies’ revenue,” he said.
In order to meet rising demand, IV Technologies is building new factories in Taiwan and China in expectation of a 25 to 30 percent annual expansion in capacity upon the arrival of new facilities next year, Yang said.
“CMP pads play an increasingly vital role in semiconductor manufacturing as the technology becomes more complicated and is approaching its physical limits,” Yang said. “The consumption of CMP pads increases with technology upgrades.”
The consumption of CMP pads would double when chipmakers upgrade chip manufacturing to 2-nanometer process technology from 7-nanometer technology, IV Technologies said.
The subsidiary said it also expects the CMP pads used in advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate packaging technology to be a strong growth driver as supply constraints worsen and demand increases.
PVI said the Middle East conflicts would not have an immediate effect on its raw materials supply, adding that it usually has a six-month stock of raw material used in CMP pads.
Another company subsidiary, PVI Chemical Co (久陞昌), which supplies medical insoles and eco-friendly polyurethane adhesive, could see increases in raw materials costs next month or in June, PVI said.
The company would pass on higher costs to customers, it said.
PVI is scheduled to debut on the Taiwan Stock Exchange next month, with a listing price tentatively set at NT$130 per share.
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