Combined third-quarter 2018 revenues of Taiwan's foundry houses are estimated to rise 6.2% sequentially or inch up 1.6% on year to US$9.94 billion on a gradual pick-up in mobile communication chip foundry demand, according to Digitimes Research.

Thanks to strong demand for high performance computing (HPC) chips supporting crypto mining and other applications, Taiwan foundry houses saw their combined revenues from computer applications shoot up 27% sequentially to US$1.9 billion in the second quarter of 2018. But affected by declines in shipments of A11 Bionic SoCs for iPhone models, their overall revenues for the quarter saw a sequential shrinkage of 6%, reaching US$9.36 billion.

Main foundry houses in Taiwan have seen their capacity utilization rates fall for three consecutive quarters since the third quarter 2017 due mainly to Apple and non-Apple smartphone chipmakers and consumer IC designers continuing their inventory adjustment.

But as shipments of A12 processors for new iPhones are set to take off in the third-quarter high season and Android smartphone chipmakers have temporarily suspended their inventory adjustment, the overall capacity utilization rate of Taiwan foundry houses is expected to rebound to 90.2% in the third quarter, with 8-inch wafer fabs still running at almost full capacities and foundry demand for chips fabricated on 28nm and more advanced processes picking up gradually.

The US-China trade war is posing greater uncertainties to business prospects for the second half of 2018. This, coupled with lackluster demand for crypto mining chips and midrange and low-end smartphone sales failing to gain significant growth momentum, is expected to see foundry service demand for the second half of the year fall from the first half. As a result, Taiwan's aggregate foundry revenues for 2018 are estimated to reach US$40.48 billion, for an annual growth of 6.9%, a figure lower than originally expected, Digitimes Research estimates.

By: DocMemory
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