Taipei, Nov. 10 (CNA) The production value of Taiwan's integrated circuit sector grew more than 8 percent sequentially in the third quarter of the year, which was a peak season for that sector, according to the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association (TSIA).
In a research paper released earlier this week, the TSIA said the third-quarter output of the local semiconductor industry was NT$691.5 billion (US$22.45 billion), an increase of 8.4 percent from the previous quarter.
The domestic IC manufacturing, IC design and IC packaging and testing segments all reported an increase in production value during the July-September period, the TSIA said.
In the IC manufacturing segment, the third-quarter output rose 8.1 percent sequentially to NT$381.6 billion, with NT$326.3 billion generated by pure wafer foundry firms such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the TSIA said.
During the three month period, the production value of the local IC design segment hit NT$177.6 billion, up 9.5 percent from a quarter earlier, while the output posted by the IC testing segment rose 9.2 percent to NT$39.3 billion, and that of the IC packaging segment grew 6.9 percent to NT$93 billion, the TSIA report showed.
Looking ahead, the TSIA said the local IC manufacturing segment is expected to gain a boost from TSMC in the fourth quarter.
It projected that TSMC's shipments of 7 nanometer chips will double, pushing up its fourth-quarter sales by about 10 percent, which would help boost the manufacturing segment's output by 6.9 percent to NT$408.1 billion.
However, in the fourth-quarter slow season, output in the IC design segment is likely to show a quarterly drop of 8.1 percent to NT$163.3 billion, while that of the IC packaging segment might fall 2.2 percent to NT$91 billion, the TSIA said.
As for the IC testing segment, the output is also expected to fall 0.8 percent from a quarter earlier to NT$39 billion in the fourth quarter, the TSIA forcecast.
In the fourth quarter, the output of the local IC sector could rise 1.4 percent from a quarter earlier to NT$701.4 billion, according to the TSIA.
For the whole of 2018, the production value of the IC sector is forecast to hit NT$2.63 trillion, up 7 percent from a year earlier, the TSIA said.
