[Taiwan Chip News] Memory and Foundry March Sales Increase... Spring Vibes Extend to Front-End Market

Taiwan Memory Companies' March Sales Increase
TSMC and UMC Foundries Also Grow
"Strong AI Server Demand Expected This Year"

As the semiconductor industry shows signs of recovery this year, the performance of Taiwan's semiconductor sector is also gaining momentum. Not only memory semiconductor companies but also foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) firms saw their March sales increase rapidly compared to the previous month, marking the start of a solid upward trend in earnings. The outlook for upstream industries expecting artificial intelligence (AI) demand is also positive.

Taiwanese memory semiconductor company Winbond reported March sales of 7.51133 billion Taiwan dollars. This represents a 21.01% increase from the previous month and a 9.11% rise compared to the same month last year. The company explained that March sales hit the highest level in 21 months.

Including January and February, first-quarter sales reached 20.12135 billion Taiwan dollars, up 14.88% year-over-year, marking the highest level in seven quarters. Winbond CEO Chen Pei-ming stated that demand in the memory market, including NAND flash and DRAM, is gradually improving and that inventory adjustments have been completed for now.

Winbond has recently been strengthening its product lineup. By introducing the Trust MER W77Q series and new large-capacity security flash products of 256 megabits (Mb), 512Mb, and 1 gigabit (Gb), the company is focusing on meeting the growing security demand related to Internet of Things (IoT) edge devices in industrial and server sectors.

Another Taiwanese memory company, MXIC, recorded March sales of 2.113 billion Taiwan dollars, a 21.9% increase from the previous month. For the entire first quarter, sales reached 5.76 billion Taiwan dollars, up 0.81% from the previous quarter. However, compared to last year, March sales decreased by 25.2%, and first-quarter sales fell by 18.91%.

Taiwan's major foundry companies also continued their sales growth in March. TSMC posted sales of 195.211 billion Taiwan dollars for the month, up 7.47% from the previous quarter and 34.3% from the same month last year. First-quarter sales totaled 592.644 billion Taiwan dollars, a 16.5% increase year-over-year.

UMC recorded 18.16713 billion Taiwan dollars in March sales, up 4.10% from the previous month and 2.7% year-over-year. Including January and February, first-quarter sales reached 54.6321 billion Taiwan dollars, a 0.78% increase compared to the same period last year.

The positive semiconductor industry sentiment is similarly reflected in sectors related to the upstream market. Taiwanese notebook OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and server producer Quanta Computer posted March sales of 101.79 billion Taiwan dollars, up 20.7% from the previous month and 9.7% year-over-year.

March is typically an off-season for the electronics industry. Nevertheless, the company recovered sales in the 100 billion Taiwan dollar range, showing growth momentum. Including January and February, first-quarter sales totaled 258.939 billion Taiwan dollars, down 2.7% year-over-year but still maintaining the highest annual trend.

Quanta Computer expects the majority of this year's sales growth to be concentrated in AI servers. Chairman Lin Bai-li said, "Although the economic situation may still be challenging this year, thanks to strong demand in the AI server market, we will continue to lead the industry," adding, "We will overcome difficulties through the AI boom this year."