GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said its net profit soared to a record high of NT$5.27 billion (US$180.6 million) last year, as voracious demand spurred a wave of price hikes for key electronic components.
Last year’s net profit grew from NT$939 million in 2016, with earnings per share soaring to NT$12.68 last year, from NT$2.54 a year earlier.
These are no signs of demand weakness that would reverse a scarcity of wafer supply constraints and GlobalWafers expects the price uptrend to be in place throughout the year, it said.
“A rise in customer demand has helped drive up equipment loading rates in the past year. Our capacity cannot keep up with the pace of customer demand,” company spokesperson Lee Chung-wei (李崇偉) said by telephone. “We are optimistic about demand for the next two or three years. Customer demand is very strong this year, which will support further price hikes.”
Lee declined to give a detailed forecast about price increases.
Memory chipmaker Marconix International Co (旺宏電子) said earlier this month that wafer silicon costs are expected to surge 30 percent this year, following two years of price hikes due to prolonged supply constraints.
GlobalWafers and Japan’s SUMCO Corp are the major semiconductor wafer suppliers to Macronix, the memorychip maker said.
Silicon wafers are the fundamental building material for semiconductors, which are vital components of all electronic goods including computers, telecommunications products and consumer electronics.
GlobalWafers yesterday said the company’s board of directors approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$10 per common share. That implies a dividend yield of 2.18 percent when compared with the shares closing price of NT$458 yesterday.
Last year, GlobalWafers saw revenue expand to NT$45.21 billion, compared with NT$18.43 billion a year earlier.
The company’s revenue growth outpaced the worldwide silicon wafer industry’s growth of 21 percent to US$8.71 billion last year, according to statistics from the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG). The figure is still well below the industry’s peak revenue set in 2007 of US$12.1 billion.
Silicon wafer shipments rose to a record high 11,810 million square inches (7,619m2) last year, up from a 2016 market high of 10,738 million square inches, SMG said.
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