ChipMOS Bermuda Announces Unaudited Consolidated Results for the Third Quarter of 2003
Revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2003 was NT$2,438 million, an increase of 41% from the same period in 2002 and an increase of 5% from the second quarter of 2003. The gross margin for the third quarter of 2003 was 20% compared to the gross margin of 2% in the third quarter of 2002 and 14% in the second quarter of 2003. Net income for the third quarter of 2003 was NT$173 million or NT$2.95 per common share, compared to a net loss of NT$164 million or NT$2.81 per common share in the third quarter of 2002 and a net income of NT$76 million or NT$1.30 per common share in the second quarter of 2003.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2003, ChipMOS Bermuda had a revenue of NT$6,472 million, an increase of 37% from the same period in 2002, and a net profit of NT$53 million, compared to a net loss of NT$735 million for the same period in 2002. The net income per common share for the nine months ended September 30, 2003 was NT$0.91, compared to a net loss per common share of NT$12.60 for the same period of 2002.
S.J. Cheng, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ChipMOS Bermuda, remarked, "We started to make profit in the second quarter and broke-even in the third quarter. For the first nine months, we made a net profit of NT$53 million. We are pleased to achieve it after experiencing the slowdown of the global economy and continuous loss for the past two years. Most of our capacity has been booked, in particular, the capacity for LCD driver IC assembly and testing services. Due to the anticipated increasing demand on our assembly and testing services for LCD driver IC, we plan to raise 20% to 25% of the service price in October 2003. In order to fulfill our customers needs, we will continue to expand our production capacity to provide advanced and prompt services to our customers. Though the price adjustment reflecting our production cost, we can make a reasonable profit and continue to grow and expand. In addition, we also form alliances with some major customers by entering into service agreements in which customers committed to certain volumes of orders and we reserved certain percentage of our capacity in return. We are confident that ChipMOS Bermuda is in a good position to take the future challenges and opportunities and a better operating results in the fourth quarter of 2003 could be expected."
Outlook
Owing to the low market visibility, the investment on new equipment has been held down for quite a period resulting in the shortage of high-speed testing capacity for outsourcing purposes. Though the market demand for DDR (Double Data Rate) memory product kept flat over last few months, the order for high-speed testing platforms is still high in order to fulfill the contracted supply to tier 1 customers. An increase in price for testing service becomes inevitable in the near future, especially for memory testing.
Our Shanghai operation has been impacted by the increased demand for memory products. We expect our operation capacity in our leased factory to be increased to 6 million pieces per month in the fourth quarter of 2003 from current 2 million pieces monthly output. This capacity increase will further enhance our stability on production planning and operation revenue over coming years.
ChipMOS Bermuda is one of the largest capacity suppliers of LCD driver IC assembly and testing in Taiwan. We experienced the full ramp up period from very beginning of the TFT LCD display industry. Our devotion in new technology development and capacity expansion has been widely acknowledged by most of the LCD display component suppliers. We expect the shortage in LCD driver IC assembly and testing capacity to drive the market service price to 20% to 25 % higher in the fourth quarter of 2003 compared with the third quarter of 2003. To secure the supply, most of ChipMOS's capacity has been booked by customers for coming three years that is in-line with the demand of TFT LCD displays. We expect to make more revenue and profit from LCD driver IC assembly and testing operations in the fourth quarter of 2003.
About ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES (Bermuda) LTD.:
ChipMOS Bermuda is a leading provider of semiconductor testing and assembly services to customers in Taiwan, Japan and the U.S. With advanced facilities in Hsinchu and Tainan Science-Based Industrial Parks in Taiwan and Shanghai, ChipMOS Bermuda and its subsidiaries provide testing and assembly services to a broad range of customers, including leading fabless semiconductor companies, integrated device manufacturers and independent semiconductor foundries. For more information, please visit its company website at http://www.chipmos.com.tw
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements contained in this announcement may be viewed as "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual performance, financial condition or results of operations of the Company to be materially different from any future performance, financial condition or results of operations implied by such forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these risks, uncertainties and other factors is included in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and in the Company's other filings with the SEC.
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