TMCnet News
Deutsche Bank is upbeat on prospects for Taiwan semiconductor industry(China Post (Taiwan) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) As inventory levels decline, semiconductor firms will receive rush orders starting at the end of November, resulting in a rebound in share prices, Deutsche Bank forecast recently. The semiconductor industry had a strong showing in August, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and MediaTek Inc. seeing record sales. However, as demand declined in the industry, semiconductor firms' share prices have stayed low for some time. Deutsche Bank is more optimistic, pointing out that with growing demand, inventory levels of PC and consumer electronics makers began to decline in the second quarter. As for information and communication technology firms unrelated to Apple Inc., their inventory is expected to go down in the third quarter. In addition, Deutsche Bank said that fabless integrated circuit (IC) design companies will see their inventory dipping below the average level in the fourth quarter. As such, the financial institution forecast that share prices of the semiconductor industry will bounce back starting between November and December, and the momentum will continue until the first quarter of 2015. Semiconductor Firms Picked by Deutsche Bank Besides TSMC and MediaTek, Deutsche Bank also named Hermes Microvision, Inc as a top investment choice. In the foundry industry, Deutsche Bank said Apple's A8 processors and demand from Qualcomm will drive TSMC's 20-nano manufacturing process until the fourth quarter. The bank also predicted that TSMC will edge out MediaTek to win more orders between this and next year. In the IC packaging and testing industry, Deutsche Bank has confidence in Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc and Siliconware Precision Industries Co and believes that they will achieve the financial goals set for the third quarter. As ASE has received orders from Apple Inc. for A8 processor testing and packaging, Wi-Fi modules and fingerprint identification modules, ASE is posed to see even larger growth later this year, said Deutsche Bank. In the IC design and distribution industry, Deutsche Bank has more confidence in MediaTek, Novatek and WPG Holdings. As for the semiconductor equipment industry, Deutsche Bank is optimistic that Hermes Microvision's sales will grow 85 percent between the third and the fourth quarter. TSMC Rolls out 28HPC Process TSMC announced yesterday that its 28-nano High Performance Compact (28HPC) process is in volume production, making it the most power- and cost-efficient solution among all 28-nanometer technologies in the foundry segment. According to TSMC, the company has collaborated with 10 customers to complete tape-outs with the 28 HPC process and a few customers have already started volume production. Another 70 new product tape-outs are in the pipeline scheduled for the end of 2014, said TSMC. |