Chip packaging and testing house Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) has reported consolidated revenues for the first quarter rose 42.8% sequentially to NT$37.56 billion. Meanwhile, rival Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) saw revenues for the quarter decline 10.5% from the fourth-quarter 2009 level.
ASE's first-quarter consolidated sales jumped 180.3% from the same period of 2009.
ASE generated consolidated revenues of NT$15.85 billion in March, a monthly record. ASE's consolidated results include sales generated by Universal Scientific Industrial (USI), which the IC backend house has acquired for around NT$18.9 billion through a cash and stock tender offer.
SPIL's revenues of NT$5.26 billion for March grew by 11.6% from February. Revenues for the first quarter reached NT$15.05 billion, down the prior quarter's NT$16.81 billion .
On a consolidated basis, SPIL saw first-quarter revenues slide 10.5% sequentially to NT$15.69 billion, which nevertheless represents a 63.1% on-year increase from NT$9.62 billion posted in the first quarter of 2009.
SPIL's revenues for the first quarter of 2010 dropped more-than-expected, as its progress towards copper processing for wirebonding production was lagging ASE's, resulting in a loss of orders, according to market observers.
ASE has said the number of its copper wirebonders is set to reach 3,000 units by the end of 2010, when sales proportion from copper wirebonding would climb to 30%.
SPIL plans to aggressively increase the number of its copper wirebonders by the end of the third quarter to 1,900 units, the company said at its last investors conference in February. It said it would install 600 before the end of the first quarter.