On February 1, ASE Investment Holdings, a leading semiconductor packaging and testing manufacturer, held a legal conference and announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2023 and the full year of 2023.
Specifically, in the fourth quarter of 2023, ASE generated revenue of NT$1,6058.1 billion yuan, an increase of 4% month-on-month and a year-on-year decrease of 11%; Gross margin was 16%, a decrease of 02 percentage points, a year-on-year decrease of 32 percentage points; Net profit after tax was NT$939.2 billion yuan (about 2.1 billion yuan.)500 million yuan), an increase of 7% month-on-month and a year-on-year decrease of 40%, with a single-quarter EPS of NT$2$18.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, the packaging business decreased by 3% compared with the third quarter, the testing business increased by 4% compared with the third quarter, and the material sales also increased by 10% compared with the third quarter, according to ASE Investment Holdings. In addition, under the optimization of product mix, the gross profit margin of the overall packaging and testing business rebounded to 234%, an increase of 12 percentage points, a decrease of 4 compared with 20224 percentage points.
Judging from the 2023 full-year results, ASE Investment Holdings' full-year revenue for 2023 is NT$5,8191.4 billion yuan, down 13% year-on-year; Gross margin was 158%, a year-on-year decrease of 44 percentage points. Net profit after tax for the full year was NT$3172.5 billion yuan (about 7.2 billion yuan.)700 million yuan), down 49% year-on-year, and the annual EPS was NT$739 yuan.
In response to the operating outlook for the first quarter of 2024, ASE Investment Holding said that in New Taiwan dollar terms, the revenue and gross profit margin of the packaging and testing business in the first quarter will be comparable to the first quarter of 2023, and the revenue of electronic foundry in the first quarter is also similar to that in the first quarter of 2023, and the operating profit margin of electronic foundry in the first quarter is close to the level of the first quarter of 2023. Overall, it is estimated that the inventory adjustment will end in the first half of the year, and there is an opportunity for growth to accelerate in the second half of the year. In addition, the full-year packaging and testing business revenue will grow at a similar rate as the logic semiconductor market, and it is expected to have a higher proportion of advanced packaging and testing revenue.
ASE stressed that this year will be a "year of recovery", and will go all out to sprint to the field of advanced packaging, while capital expenditure will increase significantly this year. According to industry estimates, ASE Group's capital expenditure this year has increased by 4 to 50% compared with last year's US$1.5 billion (about NT$46.9 billion), a new high since the establishment of Venture Capital Holdings.
Editor: Xinzhixun-Lin Zi.