Tong Hsing Electronic Industries Inc (同欣電), an image sensor packaging services arm of Yageo Corp (國巨), yesterday said that the COVID-19 pandemic has not negatively affected demand and it expects revenue to grow by a double-digit percentage year-on-year this quarter, despite it being likely to decline by a single-digit percentage quarter-on-quarter from NT$2.09 billion (US$68.7 million) due to seasonal weakness.
“Our business performance will meet our guidance as customer demand remains intact, despite the COVID-19 outbreak,” Tong Hsing president Heinz Ru (呂紹萍) told investors in a teleconference.
The pandemic has had a minor impact on the firm’s factory in the Philippines due to transportation restrictions, but it is mainly operating normally as export-oriented industries are exempt from the quarantine measures imposed by the Philippine government, Ru said.
The company’s plants in Taipei and Taoyuan are also operating normally, thanks to a smooth supply of raw materials, he said.
“The first quarter will be very different this year compared with the same period in previous years. We expect strong growth this quarter and are also optimistic about the second-quarter outlook,” he said.
CMOS image sensor (CIS) packaging services would grow at the fastest rate this quarter, supported by growing demand for higher-resolution cameras for smartphones in China and for multiple-camera handsets, he said.
To cope with strong demand for CIS services, Tong Hsing plans to more than double its monthly capacity to 160,000 wafers at its plant in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭), Ru said.
As a result, capital expenditure this year is set to soar to NT$2.17 billion from NT$657.25 million last year, the company said.
Tong Hsing expects the CIS business to become its biggest source of revenue this year, replacing the ceramic substrate business, following the acquisition of CIS service provider Kingpak Technology Inc (勝麗), it said.
Ceramic substrates accounted for 40 percent of the company’s revenue last year.
Tong Hsing posted a net profit of NT$741.96 million for last year, down 26.8 percent from NT$1.01 billion in 2018, primarily due to foreign-exchange losses of NT$42 million during the final quarter of the year.
Earnings per share fell to NT$4.49 from NT$6.13.
Gross margin last year shrank to 21.5 percent from 25.7 percent in 2018 due to an unfavorable product mix.
Revenue rose 0.2 percent to NT$7.43 billion last year, from NT$7.41 billion in 2018.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in