4 January 2011

Smartphone demand to buoy Taiwan GaAs foundries in 2011

Benefiting from the continued growth expected for the smartphone industry, Taiwan-based gallium arsenide foundries Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Company (AWSC) and WIN Semiconductors Corp will enjoy rising shipments in 2011, reckon market sources in a report in Digitimes.

GaAs ICs are used in handset power amplifiers (PAs), and one smartphone (e.g. an iPhone 4) contains as many as five PAs. AWSC’s largest client, Skyworks Solutions Inc of Woburn, MA, USA, is expected to increase its outsourcing to the foundry partner in 2011 due to soaring demand for Apple devices.

The foundry is also reported to have secured orders from Avago Technologies. Sales generated from shipments to the new client will start contributing to revenue in second-quarter 2011.

After seeing its revenue grow 17.2% quarter-on-quarter to a record NT$543m (US$18.6m) in third-quarter 2010, AWSC is expected to post sequential revenue growth of 5–10% in fourth-quarter 2010.

After month-on-month drops in sales in both October and November due to inventory adjustments at some customers, WIN is expected to see flat growth sequentially in fourth-quarter 2010. However, in third-quarter 2010 the firm had seen quarterly growth of 4.4% to almost NT$2bn.

Also, Taiwanese epiwafer supplier Visual Photonics Epitaxy Company (VPEC) should post sequentially revenue growth of 20% in fourth-quarter 2010.

See related items:

Taiwan GaAs foundries AWSC & WIN continue record sales in September

Tags: AWSC GaAs foundry WIN Semiconductors VPEC

Visit: www.digitimes.com/news/a20110104VL200.html