《TAIPEI TIMES》Chipmakers report strong revenue growth

UMC’s projection: The company said it lacked clear evidence to support a large growth projection in the second half, which is the electronic industry’s peak season

By Lisa Wang / Staff reporter

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Contract chipmakers United Microelectronics Corp （UMC, 聯電） and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp （世界先進） reported better-than-expected revenue growth last quarter, amid improving inventory digestions on supply chains.

UMC, the world’s No. 3 contract chipmaker, said revenue climbed 3.86 percent quarter-on-quarter to NT$56.3 billion （US$1.8 billion） during the three-month period to last month, better than its estimate in May of a flat quarter. Originally, the company expected slower inventory digestion on the customer side would prevent its revenue and shipments from growing last quarter.

The chipmaker’s revenue increased to NT$19.06 billion last month, marking four straight months of growth. Last month’s performance still lagged behind the NT$24.83 billion it made in June last year, down 23.24 percent annually.

UMC told investors in May that the first quarter would be the worst period this year and demand from all major segments would remain flat during the second quarter.

The company said it lacked clear evidence to support a significant growth projection in the second half, the electronic industry’s peak season.

Vanguard, which produces display driver ICs and power management chips, yesterday posted 20.5 percent quarterly growth in revenue to NT$9.86 billion for last quarter, exceeding its forecast of NT$9.4 billion to NT$9.8 billion.

The amount signified quarterly growth of 20.39 percent from NT$8.19 billion in the first quarter. Vanguard estimated a median growth rate of 17 percent, supported largely by increasing demand for driver ICs and power management chips used in TV displays.

Vanguard expected a majority of its customers’ inventory digestion efforts would approach an end during the second quarter.

Vanguard in May said that signs indicating notebook computer demand might pick up from the third quarter might lead to higher demand for components.

PC vendor Acer Inc （宏碁） yesterday said revenue soared 45.5 percent month-on-month to NT$26.32 billion last month. That brought the company’s second-quarter revenue to NT$53.23 billion, an 11 percent increase from the previous quarter.

The second half of May was expected to be the low point for business, Acer said in a statement. Last month, the company’s gaming computers had the strongest growth among its products, advancing 93.4 percent month-on-month, followed by growth of 59 percent in notebook computers.

Desktop computer revenue expanded 40.2 percent and monitors revenue increased 41.7 percent. Commercial products showed the slowest growth rate of 30.5 percent.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES