Packaging and testing company Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) has reported net profits of NT$11.73 billion (US$375.7 million) for 2014, up 99.1% from a year earlier. Earnings for 2014 translated into a net EPS of NT$3.74.

SPIL generated consolidated revenues of NT$83.07 billion in 2014, up 19.8% on year, with gross margin climbing 4.5pp to 25.3%.

SPIL posted net profits of NT$3.01 billion, or NT$0.97 a share, on consolidated revenues of NT$21.43 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014. Revenues were down 1% on quarter, but gross margin rose 1.3pp to 26.9% thanks to depreciation of the NT dollar.

SPIL has forecast consolidated sales for the first quarter of 2015 will be between NT$20 billion and NT$21.2 billion, which represent a sequential decrease of 1.1-6.7%. Gross margin and operating margin will be 24-26% and 14-16%, respectively.

During the first quarter, SPIL's performance will be affected by a slowdown in demand for PCs and memory, said company chairman Bough Lin. Nevertheless, stable growth in demand coming from the communications sector and a slight increase in demand for consumer electronics could lead to a particularly strong first quarter for SPIL, Lin indicated.

SPIL expects to utilize 78-82% of its wire-bonding capacity in the first quarter. Meanwhile, utilization rates of its flip-chip (FC) and bumping packaging and logic IC testing are estimated at 78-82% and 74-78%, respectively.

In addition, Lin projects that the global semiconductor assembly and test market will log a 7-8% increase in 2015, while the overall semiconductor sector will grow by a smaller 5%.

SPIL has set its capex for 2015 at NT$14.5 billion, of 48% will be used for FC and bumping packaging capacity, and 19% for wire-bonding capacity.