Epistar, the largest Taiwan-based LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker, saw its operation in the third quarter of 2013 swing to a small net loss of NT$83.4 million (US$2.8 million) due to a non-operating loss of NT$281 million, according to the company.
Epistar on November 4 released its third-quarter financial report, posting consolidated revenues of NT$5.754 billion, gross margin of 16.09%, net operating profit of NT$244.1 million and net loss per share of NT$0.09.
For January-September, Epistar recorded consolidated revenues of NT$16.147 billion, gross margin of 13.38%, net operating profit of 285.7 million, net profit of 14.4 million and net earnings per share of NT$0.02.
According to industry sources, Epistar currently utilizes about 80% of its production capacity and the utilization rate is expected to drop in December. Fourth-quarter demand for blue-color LED chips used to backlight LCD TVs and monitors and notebooks is weak and that for LEDs used to backlight smartphones and tablets will decrease sequentially, the sources pointed out. However, there is growing demand for red- and yellow-color AlGaINP LED chips used in lighting and indoor/outdoor display panels, the sources indicated.
