Memory backend specialist Powertech Technology (PTI) expects its sales to peak in the third quarter, and remains optimistic about the outlook for the fourth quarter.

Robust demand for DRAM and NAND flash memory chips will be buoying sales at PTI in the third quarter, but the company is relatively conservative about its logic IC business growth.

The global semiconductor market is forecast to grow 11.5-12% in 2017, thanks mainly to strong growth of the DRAM and NAND flash sectors, said PTI president JY Hung at a July 25 investor meeting.

The supply of DRAM memory remains tight, Hung indicated. DRAM demand from the servers and consumer electronics sectors has been robust, while mobile DRAM demand continues to register stable growth, Hung said.

As for flash memory, huge demand for handsets, and demand for SSDs for use in datacenter and enterprise servers, has resulted in tight supply of the memory, Hung noted. Meanwhile, suppliers' 3D NAND flash output ramp-ups will also be a growth driver of the market.

PTI's sales generated from the DRAM sector will reach their peak levels for 2017 in the third quarter, thanks to a combination of positive factors including stable capacity growth at the company's Xian plant, continued growth in graphics DRAM demand and a seasonal pick-up in mobile DRAM demand, Hung said. PTI has also started recognizing revenues from Micron Akita in the third quarter.

PTI in April struck a deal with Micron Technology to fully acquire Micron Akita, the US memory vendor's assembly and test plant in Japan.

PTI's sales generated from the NAND flash sector will be driven by suppliers' output ramp-ups of their 3D NAND flash chips, as well as strong demand for handsets and enterprise SSDs, Hung indicated. Currently, 3D NAND chips account for about 30% of PTI's overall output for NAND flash memory, Hung added.

PTI remains focused on high-end packaging technologies for logic ICs, such as SiP and fan-out packaging, according to Hung. Growth of the revenues generated from the logic IC sector will be relatively small compared with that of the revenues generated from the memory sector during the third quarter.

PTI reported net profits of NT$1.41 billion (US$46.5 million) for the second quarter of 2017, up 21% sequentially and 24.9% on year, while revenues climbed to a record high of NT$13.93 billion. EPS for the quarter came to NT$1.81.

PTI in June started recognizing revenues generated by Tera Probe, in which the company's stake grew to 59.44% after acquiring Micron's stake in the Japan-based wafer testing company.

Rising output at PTI's Xian plant in the second quarter also made a positive contribution to the backend house's sales performance in the second quarter.

PTI's net profits for the first half of 2017 totaled NT$2.58 billion, rising 24.5% from a year earlier, while revenues increased 21.2% on year to NT$26.59 billion. EPS for the six-month period came to NT$3.31 compared with NT$2.66 during the same period in 2016.