Vanguard foresees a rosy third quarter

TAIPEI, TAIWAN:Analog and mixed-signal and logic ICs segment major Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS), a specialty IC foundry, has estimated its third quarter shipments to see a 25 per cent rise sequentially with ASPs rising 3-4 per cent.

Continuing with the positive guidance for the period, company president Leuh Fang said that the third-quarter revenues are also expected to grow around 29 per cent sequentially, with gross margins of up to 20 per cent.

It is expected that Vanguard International Semiconductor will also see its utilization rate increasing to 75 per cent as against the 60 per cent recorded during the previous quarter.

Pointing out that the foundry's order visibility has extended to two months, Fang said Vanguard has come back to winning ways by posting a profit of NT$149 million (US$4.55 million) in the second quarter. This also meant that revenues rose 103 per cent sequentially.

While the gross margin for the quarter clawed back from negative 33 per cent to positive 14 per cent, wafer shipments totaled 227,000 units in the quarter. His brought about a 115 per cent rise from 106,000 shipped in the previous quarter.

According to the company president, digital TV ,LCD driver IC and power management IC sectors have been pushing for more thereby ensuring a substantial growth. VIS will now be looking at earmarking 75 per cent of its overall capacity at Fab 2 for logic ICs by the end of 2009.