Stats Chippac

Stats Chippac / Semi conductor: CS Asian Investment Conference hosted key semi-con co’s, namely TSMC, ASE, Mediatek, SPRD, RDA and SMIC. Overall, note that the foundry position remains intact but pausing near-term. TSMC and SMIC both affirmed a muted outlook for 2Q13 following early pull-ins and believe some Apple chain weakness. Stats Chippac key customer TSMC however still sees above industry growth for the full year and expects its 28nm technology to remain full, with strong mix shift to HKMG offsetting some competitive share shifts as 28nm LP matures. Mgt remains optimistic investing in growth and potential on 20nm, announcing up to US$1.5 bn bond offering and spending US$1b last yr and US$2-4 b on 20nm ahead of 2013. Separately, recall that Stats Chippac is set to replace HPH Trust in the STI Mid Cap Index, with HPH Trust shifting up to the STI index to replace F&N. One would expect mutual funds/etfs which track the performances of such index to do the necessary adjustments/weightings within their portfolio, which could be beneficiary for the HPH Trust and Stats Chippac.