Holtek Semiconductor's Kao Expresses Optimism for 2010

Taipei, March 29, 2010 (CENS)-Expressing optimism, President of Holtek Semiconductor Inc., Gordan Gau, said recently that 2010 is a quite good year and his company is preparing products for 2011 instead of worrying about business in 2010.

He made the remark at a time when the company said the company had seen order visibility extending to May this year, compared with average visibility through April in the past.

Institutional investors estimated the chip design house's earnings for this year to post at over NT$3 per share and its revenue for this year to grow at annual rate of some 20%. The company earned NT$2.78 per share last year and is estimated to pay dividend of approximately NT$2.5 per share.

Gau pointed out that robust demands from customers, full production capacity at pure silicon foundries and extended lead-time at contracted test and packaging houses had forced design houses to place orders with foundry suppliers one month earlier this year.

Gau estimated the company's revenue for this quarter to stay on par with around US$25 million it had in the fourth quarter last year and its revenue for next quarter to stay above the level.

The company, Gau stressed, will focus on market for flash types of micro control unit (MCU) and the energy-saving "Tiny Power" MCUs this year. He estimated the company's MCU shipments to grow at least 20% this year from last year and its shipments of chips for touch screens to double in the meantime.

Next year, the company's product emphasis will be on control units for motors and fingerprint recognition chips processing data at speed of 32 bit per second. Its fingerprint recognition chips have been built into some home security systems and security systems for notebook computers.