IC testing solutions provider Chunghwa Precision Test Tech (CHPT) continues to land major orders from first-tier vendors for wafer probing cards and other test interfaces for high-end handset APs despite the coronavirus outbreak, and will be carrying on its capacity expansion plans as scheduled, according to company chairman Scott Huang.
Huang said at a recent investors conference that mobile AP testing solutions, mainly vertical probing cards (VPC), will remain CHPT's core business in 2020 after registering a revenue contribution ratio of 51% in fourth-quarter 2019, compared to 13.3% for testing interfaces for RF and Wi-Fi chips and 12% for modem chips.
He said the epidemic has driven market researchers to revise downward global shipments projections for 5G smartphones to 200-220 million units in 2020 from 260 million, but shipment growth momentum may gradually pick up in the second half of 2020 through 2021, when mmWave 5G smartphones see a significant rise in shipments.
While continuing to expand its capacity for smartphone AP testing products, Huang continued, CHPT will also move to boost its market share for 5G RF chips base stations. He said that small cells will see a high CAGR of 80% through 2025 and standalone networks will gradually become the mainstream.
CHPT, maintaining close partnerships with leading chipmakers and system vendors in Taiwan, China and the US, will have little problem landing sufficient orders, but the company has to step up in-house development of more high-end probe heads to better meet requirements from first-tier clients in the 5G era, industry sources said.
CHPT chairman Scott Huang
Photo: Michael Lee, Digitimes, February 2020
Article translated by Willis Ke
