05.03.2001
IC design houses feeling the pinch of economic downturn

• Core chipset designer VIA Technologies (2388 'Wei Sheng'), after sequential monthly increases in revenue from January to March, reported a revenue decline in April. Revenue in April came in at NT$3.2b, down 18% MoM. We expect seasonal factors to keep the lid on revenue growth in 2Q01. VIA forecasts revenue of NT$9.8b in 2Q01, a sequential decrease of 6%.

• Rival companies Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS, 2363 'Xi Tong') estimates a MoM increase in April revenue of 6% with NT$1.1b, and Acer Lab (5393 'Yang Zhi') NT$300m, a 29% decrement on March.

• Consumer IC design house Sunplus Technology (2401 'Ling Yang') preliminarily forecasts April revenue of NT$500m, up 4%MoM, and has set a target of NT$1.7b for 2Q01 and NT$8.0b for the full year. Elan Microelectronics (5433 'Yi Long Dian') booked NT$352m in the month, falling short of the company's previous guidance of NT$400m.

• We remain concerned over the impact of discouraging economic conditions on the consumer IC design house sector and expect no significant turnaround in business in 2Q01.

AngelLo@Primasia.com +886-[0]2-2547-8865