GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue growth this year would be flat or would increase by a low to mid-single-digit percentage, as several of its customers contend with inventory issues.
That forecast indicates that the company this year would likely report its weakest growth in revenue since 2020.
“Overall, the silicon wafer market has entered a period of slowdown. This period has lasted for about four quarters with the silicon wafer market lagging the semiconductor market by one to two quarters due to inventory digestion issues,” GlobalWafers chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) told investors in a teleconference meeting.
Photo: CNA
“Many of our customers are still digesting their inventories,” Hsu said. “Nobody really knows whether the market will recover in the second half of this year or next year. Visibility is still low.”
However, she said that GlobalWafers would enter another upcycle next year with revenue returning to previous growth patterns on an annual and quarterly basis.
Separately, the company said it has received a notice from the US government that is being included in the first phase of applicants for Washington’s Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act, alongside Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電).
Previously, GlobalWafers was categorized as a material supplier and deemed a phase-two company for the act. Phase-two applicants are reviewed for investment subsidies after phase-one companies.
As a phase-one applicant, GlobalWafers is eligible for the US Department of the Treasury’s advanced manufacturing investment tax credit, the company said.
GlobalWafers has submitted its pre-application to the US government and would have a final application ready by the end of the fourth quarter, it said.
The construction of a new 12-inch wafer plant in Texas is on schedule and on track to start volume production in 2025, the company said.
GlobalWafers plans to invest US$5 billion in the Texas fab.
The company reported that net profit in the second quarter dropped 4.2 percent to NT$4.79 billion (US$152 million), from NT$5 billion in the first quarter. On an annual basis, net profit surged 73 percent from NT$2.72 billion.
Earnings per share dropped to NT$11 last quarter from NT$11.49 in the first quarter, but was greater than the NT$6.24 posted a year earlier.
Gross margin sank to 37.7 percent last quarter, compared with 40.6 percent a quarter earlier and 43.6 percent a year earlier.
Although some customers are still in deep inventory corrections, GlobalWafers said that prepayments had risen NT$1.5 billion as of June 30. Customers are required to pay an unspecified amount of payment in advance to secure long-term wafer supply at fixed prices.
The company accumulated prepayments of NT$38.3 billion in the first half of this year, it said.
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