16 March 2011

Smartphones and tablets boost Taiwan’s WIN and VPEC 46% year-on-year

Taiwanese GaAs IC foundry WIN Semiconductors has reported a sequential increase in consolidated sales for February, while rival Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Company (AWSC) posted a drop, according to a report by Digitimes.

WIN’s revenue was NT$619m (US$21m) in February, up 8.6% on January. Consolidated sales for the first two months of 2011 were up 46.1% year-on-year to NT$1.16bn.

The firm’s February sales bucked seasonal trends thanks to new orders from device maker Skyworks Solutions Inc of Woburn, MA, USA, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN), which added that WIN had snatched a portion of Skyworks’ orders from AWSC.

WIN reportedly is also a contract partner for GaAs device maker TriQuint Semiconductor Inc of Hillsboro, OR, USA. Both Skyworks and TriQuint are among the component suppliers for Apple’s iPad 2.

AWSC saw revenue fall 35.5% sequentially from January to February. Sales from January through February totaled NT$226m, down 12.2% year-on-year.

However, the firm expects revenue to recover in March due to power amplifier (PA) maker Skyworks resuming normal orders. Skyworks reduced orders at the end of 2010 for inventory management purposes. But, with major client Apple reporting strong tablet PC sales and the introduction of the iPad 2, Skyworks has begun raising orders to ASWC. Production time for PAs typically takes eight weeks, so orders from Skyworks should return to normal levels in March and AWSC’s revenues for the month should rebound to NT$150m (US$5.07m), reports Digitimes.

AWSC is expected to benefit from the popularity of smartphones and tablet PCs. Combined with rising demand for switches used in Wi-Fi equipment, April revenues are projected to set a new company record. The firm also expects to receive certification from device makers Avago and Sony and should begin limited shipments soon. It expects the new business to contribute to revenue in second-half 2011.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese GaAs epiwafer foundry Visual Photonics Epitaxy Company (VPEC) has announced revenue of NT$187m for February, up 0.4% month-on-month and 46% year-on-year. VPEC reportedly has entered the supply chains of both Skyworks and TriQuint.

See related items:

Smartphone demand drives GaAs foundry WIN to boost capacity

GaAs epi foundry VPEC sees rebound

Taiwan GaAs foundries AWSC & WIN continue record sales in September

Taiwan GaAs foundries post further revenue growth in July

Tags: WIN Semiconductors VPEC AWSC GaAs foundry GaAs

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