UMS Holdings

[Nick]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-inv...le7484462/ [Intel Capex Article]

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/01/1...ple-orders [TSMC Capex Article]

It seems that Intel and TSMC are boosting capex spending in 2013 - will this translate to higher orders for Applied Materials and hence UMS in 2013 ? Lim & Tan wrote a short report today highlighting this trend - http://www.remisiers.org/cms_images/rese...012013.pdf [Report]

(Vested)

[Boon]

TSMC demands suppliers deliver equipment in advance for 28nm node

Ingrid Lee, Taipei; Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES [Thursday 24 January 2013]

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) reportedly has demanded its equipment suppliers deliver in advance the front-end equipment needed for its 28nm process due to brisk demand.

TSMC's utilization rate for 28nm processes has stayed above 100% recently, according to industry sources, adding that the foundry has stepped up equipment procurement in order to provide additional capacity for the technology – used mainly to fabricate mobile chips.

Fab-tool manufacturers which have received requests for early delivery include Hermes Microvision (HMI), Advanced Ion Beam Technology (AIBT), ASML, Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron, the sources indicated.

Despite the upcoming new capacity, TSMC is expected to enjoy full utilization of 28nm capacity through the end of 2013, the sources believe.

During TSMC's recent investors meeting, company chairman and CEO Morris Chang remarked that production of 28nm wafers in 2013 will triple that of 2012. Demand for the process technology would be the major driver of TSMC's growth in 2013, said Chang, adding that two-thirds of the total orders for 28nm chips come from the communications sector.

Qualcomm, Nvidia, AMD, Altera and Xilinx reportedly have placed 28nm-chip orders with TSMC. The foundry has also received orders for the process capacity from MediaTek, Broadcom, Fujitsu Microelectronics, Renesas Electronics and LSI, the sources revealed.

TSMC's available 28nm process capacity has failed to meet demand from several customers, the sources observed. For instance, MediaTek was already informed by the foundry that supply might not fully satisfy demand, particularly that for quad-core mobile processors, until March, the sources disclosed

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20130124PD203.html

[shanrui_91]

TSMC forecasts near 100% share of 28nm chip market in 2013, may signal massive Apple orders

Chang expects to spend some $9 billion in capital expenditures in 2013 as shipments of chips made on the firm's 28nm process triple, reports the China Times (via The Next Web). The chief executive sees capex rising even further in 2014 as the company moves toward more advanced 20nm and 16nm technology.

With claims of a near monopoly on 28nm wafer shipments, analysts predict that TSMC has secured orders from Apple to build the next-generation of the iPhone maker's A-series chips. Currently, Apple uses Samsung foundries for their chip making needs, though rumors have been circulating that the partnership may soon end.

The predictions are in line with rumors that claimed TSMC has already begun to produce trial batches of the A6X processor found in the fourth-generation iPad. Existing versions of the iPad and iPhone 5 use processors built on Samsung's 32nm process, but Apple will likely move to more efficient 28nm technology with its next-gen designs. The move is to be expected as Apple went from the 45nm process to the 32nm process last year.

As for TSMC, the company is forecasting a drastic rise in revenues from its 28nm wafers. In 2012, 28nm chip shipments accounted for roughly $2.1 billion, or 12 percent of the firm's yearly revenue. That number is expected to reach $6.2 billion in 2013.

The Taiwanese company is also rumored to be building a foundry in the U.S. According to numerous reports, TSMC is believed to be the company behind what is known as "Project Azalea," a mystery development thought to be a chip manufacturing facility connected to Apple.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/01/1...ple-orders

[Boon]

Penn keeps predicting chip market growth

Peter Clarke

1/23/2013 8:55 AM EST


LONDON – The global chip market will grow by 8 percent in 2013, as long as the major economic regions can avoid recession and other negative shocks, Malcolm Penn, CEO of market analysis firm Future Horizons Ltd. told a gathering of industry executives here.

However, Penn conceded that he had predicted the same growth figure for the chip market in 2012 at the beginning of the year and the market had ended up contracting by 2.4 percent.

"We got killed by the economy. First the euro crisis, then the U.S. election, finally the fiscal cliff," said Penn. The boring nature of the PC upgrades such as Windows 8 operating system and over-frequent Apple mobile phone upgrades had not helped, he added.

Penn said the same semiconductor market fundamentals existed now as at the beginning of 2012 so if economic gloom continues or a crisis develops, it could be a flat or low-growth year. However, lengthy underinvestment in chip manufacturing equipment would eventually start to manifest itself as chip shortages and escalating average selling prices for chips, he said.

Penn pointed out that the book-to-bill ratio for front-end chip-making equipment has been below unity for 21 out of the 24 months of 2011 and 2012. "The indications are that memory prices are starting to get some traction but Windows 8 isn't going to revitalize the PC market," he said.

"But if 2013 is a market turn then 2014 will go ballistic because it's already starved of capacity," said Penn. He added that the market boom would take a couple of years to play out once it starts and indicated that 2014 could be a 25 percent growth year followed by an 18 percent growth year in 2015.

Penn said that near-term confidence is still wretched 2012 as the year of unresolved crises and that industry is still cutting back. "From investment to inventories it is still management by numbers," he said.

Penn said the chip market will recover dramatically once confidence returns but annual forecasts were highly sensitive to when in the year such recoveries begin to take place.

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/...ket-growth

[Nick]

North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts December 2012 Book-to-Bill Ratio of 0.92

http://www.semi.org/en/node/44731 [Article]

Yesterday, SEMI announced this piece of interesting news which tracks the performance of the semiconductor equipment manufacturing industry (which Applied Material is a market leader in). While the book to bill ratio remains < 1.00 (which signifies weak demand), it has recovered strongly from October 2012 low of 0.75 due to significantly higher order bookings. This may explain why UMS share price and trading volume increased dramatically since Wednesday since UMS operational performance is tied to the health of the equipment manufacturing sector.

(Vested)

[Nick]

Two weeks ago, UMS participated in the Invest ASEAN Conference 2013 and recently released the presentation slides summarizing their business, their dividend policy and outlook in 2013 -

http://www.set.or.th/th/asean_exchanges/..._ASEAN.pdf [Slides]

(Vested)

[shn]

Thanks! Very useful information for me.

Vested. I heard from acquaintances in semiconductor industry that business is picking up! Apart from the dividend, I am betting on a recovery.

[l0nEr]

Cool. thanks for the slides.

Wow i didnt know they were working with Schlumberger. Is that the exclusive contract they are talking about?
I only know that schlumberger seems to be doing very well these days, particularly with all the deep sea drilling.
I remember someone said that the exclusive contract has ended, and they should be able to build on the CEM business soon. is this true?

[NTL]

The recent run up in price is due to the conference? Or is it just a coincidence?

[Nick]

Applied Materials Announces First Quarter Results
February 13, 2013

First quarter non-GAAP EPS of 6 cents at high end of outlook; GAAP EPS of 3 cents

Orders grew 44 percent sequentially led by demand for semiconductor and display equipment

Company expects strong sequential net sales and EPS growth in the second quarter of 2013

http://www.appliedmaterials.com/newsroom...er-results [Press Release]

Certainly a great piece of news.

(Vested)