VIS quadruples 2004 capex to boost capacity by 15%
Josephine Lien, Hans Wu and Samson Yu, Taipei; Jack Lu, DigiTimes.com [Tuesday 17 February 2004]
Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) will quadruple its 2004 capital expenditures to NT$4.2 billion (about US$127 million) to boost its capacity by 15% to 52,000 8-inch equivalent wafers per month, said company chairman Paul Chien in a February 16 investors conference.
The budget came in higher than VIS projected. In a November 18 investors conference last year, Chien said that VIS would budget NT$2 billion to NT$3 billion for this year.
The majority of this year’s capex will be used to boost VIS’s capacity for LCD driver IC production using high voltage 0.35- to 0.25-micron technologies, Chien said.
Strong sales for LCD driver IC foundry services helped boost VIS’s sales by 22% sequentially to NT$3.3 billion in the fourth quarter, which was split 65:35 between logic IC foundry services and own-brand DRAM production. Chien expects the mix will improve to 75:25 in the second quarter. VIS’s business will have transformed into a pure foundry model starting from the third quarter of this year, he added.
In addition to logic foundry services, VIS is also eyeing NOR flash foundry business. VIS began producing a small volume of NOR flash for US-based Silicon Storage Technology (SST) in the third quarter of last year. A company source said that VIS has significantly improved its yield rate on 0.18-micron processes this year and may co-develop a more advanced 0.165-micron technology for NOR flash with SST.
In related news, VIS’s board of directors approved a NT$13.5 billion reduction in the company’s capital, or 48.3% of its current paid-in capital, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) yesterday. After the reduction, VIS will have NT$14.5 billion in paid-in capital.
VIS chairman Paul Chien unveiling the company’s fourth-quarter results at a February 16 investors conference
Photo: Allen Lin, DigiTimes
VIS: 4Q 2003 financial performance (NT$m)
4Q 2003
Q/Q
Y/Y
2003
Y/Y
Net sales
3,293
21.5%
73.2%
10,905
31.3%
Gross profits
462
-
-
(65)
-
Operating profits
195
-
-
(1,657)
-
Pre-tax profits
350
(20.6%)
-
178
-
Net profits
350
(20.6%)
-
178
-
Source: company, compiled by DigiTimes, February 2004 |
