Taiwan Mask Corp (台灣光罩), which specializes in producing photomasks used in semiconductor manufacturing, yesterday said it expects revenue to surge by almost 30 pecent to NT$10 billion (US$326.9 million) this year, buoyed by rising orders from major clients and higher average selling prices.
Revenue last year increased 27 percent to NT$7.74 billion.
Taiwan Mask said sales should gradually grow in the following quarters, after a projected decline of up to 24 percent to between NT$1.5 billion and NT$1.6 billion this quarter from NT$1.97 billion last quarter.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
“The decline was mostly due to weakness in the consumer electronics segment,” Taiwan Mask president Lidon Chen (陳立惇) said. “We believe demand will pick up in the second half of the year.”
The first quarter should be the trough for this year, he said.
Revenue in the first two months of this year shrank 7.81 percent to NT$1.01 billion, as customer demand declined due to inventory correction.
Factory utilization is almost full and the company has seen a nascent recovery in demand from manufacturers of driver ICs used in touch panels, he said.
With ongoing plans for capacity expansion and technology migration this year, the company expects average selling prices to trend higher, Chen said.
As the company is scheduled to commence mass production of 40-nanometer masks later this year, revenue contribution from 12-inch masks would be higher than last year, another factor that would boost its average selling prices, it said.
Taiwan Mask has a 2 percent share of the global mask market and counts the world’s major foundry service providers among its customers.
The company plans to boost capital spending from NT$2.5 billion last year by between 20 and 40 percent to between NT$3 billion and NT$3.5 billion this year to focus on advanced technology.
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