Packaging and testing company Powertech Technology (PTI) expects to post mid single-digit sequential growth in revenues for the second quarter of 2017, said company president JY Hung at a April 25 investor meeting. Revenues are set to enjoy sequential growth through the last quarter of the year.

PTI's performance during the first quarter of 2017 was stronger than the seasonal pattern seen historically, with gross margin and profits both coming in line with the company's guidance, Hung indicated.

PTI reported net profits of NT$1.17 billion (US$38.7 million) on revenues of NT$12.66 billion for the first quarter of 2017. EPS for the year came to NT$1.50.

PTI's revenues and net profits for first-quarter 2017 represented increases of 19.2% and about 24%, respectively, on year. On a sequential basis, revenues and profits were down 7.3% and 18.9%, respectively, compared to the fourth quarter of 2016.

PTI posted a 21.8% gross margin in the first quarter of 2017 compared with 19.4% a year ago and 22.7% in the prior quarter.

Of PTI's first-quarter revenues, flash memory products accounted for 43% followed by DRAM with 32% and logic ICs with 25%. The company saw sales generated from the flash memory segment increase 31.7% on year and 1.8% sequentially in the first quarter of 2017.

Looking into the second quarter, PTI is optimistic about revenues generated from the memory chip sector but conservative about those from the logic IC segment. Demand for SSDs, data centers and enterprise applications will be a growth driver in the second half of 2017, Hung said.

Moreover, PTI will enter production for 3D NAND flash memory in the second quarter, with the production set to expand starting the third quarter. Production for 3D NAND chips will play another driver of PTI's growth in the second half of 2017, according to Hung.

In addition, PTI had non-operating losses of NT$295 million in the first quarter due mainly to losses incurred from foreign exchange transactions. The company expects less impact of exchange rate fluctuations on its non-operating income in the second and third quarters.