Demand for notebooks, tablets and other PCs buoyed Taiwan-based power inductor makers’ revenues in September 2020, with Arlitech Electronic and Tai-Tech Advanced Electronics posting record-high levels.
Tai-Tech is a supplier of multilayer chip inductors, wire wound inductors and molding choke inductors with nearly 40% of its revenues in 2019 coming from PCs, 17% from home appliances, TVs and panels, 15% from networking devices, 4% from handsets and 15% from automotive applications including headlights, infotainment systems and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.
Thanks to the stay-at-home economy, strong demand for PCs has boosted Tai-Tech’s revenues by over 20% on year every month since March 2020. Tai-Tech is also expanding its capacity for molding choke inductors in 2020 and is implementing automated production lines to enhance production efficiency and lower labor costs.
Tai-Tech reported consolidated revenues of NT$422 million (US$14.58 million) for September with the amount for the first nine months in 2020 rising 36.8% on year. The company expects its fourth-quarter sales to stay flat from the high level seen in the third quarter.
Arlitech, a major inductor supplier to panel makers in Taiwan and China, saw its September consolidated revenues reach NT$110 million, up 23.1% on month and 35.9% on year, driven by the stay-at-home economy.
As Korea-based panel makers are withdrawing from the LCD sector, Arlitech is seeing increasing orders from clients including AU Optronics (AUO), Innolux and BOE, industry sources said. The company’s molding choke inductor capacity is now over 10 million units per month, up from 2018’s 6-7 million units, the sources noted.