News

6 July 2010

 

AWSC’s record revenue rises a further 4.5% in June

Taiwanese gallium arsenide foundry Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Company (AWSC) has reported revenue of NT$163m (US$5m) in June, its fourth consecutive monthly record (up 4.5% on May’s NT$156m, following sequential growth of 7.6% from April), according to Digitimes. This is also up 141% on NT$67.7m a year ago. Revenue has been boosted by strong demand for power amplifiers (PAs) for wireless and smartphone applications.

Second-quarter revenue amounted to NT$464m, up 17% on Q1’s NT$397.3m due mainly to increasing orders from GaAs device maker Skyworks Solutions Inc of Woburn, MA, USA. AWSC's monthly revenues are likely to remain high through August, reported Digitimes last month.

To meet increasing demand, AWSC plans to scale up its 6-inch GaAs wafer production by the end of the year. The firm estimated its capacity to be 100–200 wafers per week in Q2/2010, and aims to raise this to 400 wafers per week in Q4/2010 by adding a second production line. Compared with about 50 wafers per week in Q2/2010, Skyworks’ orders placed with AWSC’s 6-inch fab are likely to reach 200 wafers per week in Q3, and may ramp up further to 400 wafers per week in fourth-quarter 2010, the Commercial Times indicated.

Regarding production on 4-inch wafers, AWSC says that it has an output of 1600–1700 wafers per week and is running at full capacity. AWSC said in January that it plans to expand capacity by migrating all of its 4-inch production lines to 6-inch wafers, involving capital expenditure in 2010 of NT$400–500m (US$12.4–15.5m).

See related items:

Skyworks to increase outsourcing to GaAs foundry AWSC

Taiwan GaAs foundries WIN and AWSC expect further growth in June

Search: AWSC GaAs foundry

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