Transcom Inc., Taiwan's only compound semiconductor IDM and a manufacturer of power amplifier monolithic microwave integrated circuit (PA MMIC), released its October sales figures on November 3. The company reported NT$116 million (US$3.6 million) in revenue, marking a sequential increase of 7.75% and a year-on-year increase of 23.75%, setting a record high for October sales.
So far in 2023, Transcom has achieved an accumulated revenue of NT$993 million from January to October, representing a 22.97% increase compared to the same period last year. The company attributes this performance to the peak shipping season for Taiwan's defense contracts, along with Transcom's newly developed products for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and low earth orbit (LEO) satellite applications. Notably, in the first ten months of 2023, Transcom has experienced a 20% growth in shipments of power amplifier modules and sub-systems due to Taiwan's defense procurement, which is expected to peak at the end of the year, further boosting the company's sales.
In addition to Taiwan's state-owned military R&D institute, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), Transcom is expanding its customer base overseas. As revealed in Transcom's Q2 2022 earnings call, its customers include Rafael, Israel's national R&D defense laboratory, and Elta Systems, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries. Other customers include European and US defense contractors such as Teledyne Microwave (US), Thales (France), SAAB (Sweden), and Indra (Spain).
Currently, Transcom has an annual capacity of 15,000 4-inch wafers, with a focus on two technologies: Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor (PHEMT) based on gallium arsenide (GaAs) and HEMT based on gallium nitride. For high-power PA, a major R&D focus of Transcom is to replace the traveling-wave tube with the GaN platform. Another R&D focus is 5G, particularly mmWave PAs.
In 2022, the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) awarded a contract to Transcom to design and manufacture GaN-based PA MMIC and solid-state power amplifier (SSPA) modules for X-band LEO satellites. The SSPA module had already passed the first stage of trials at the end of 2022. Further trials, especially those related to space radiation, are expected to be conducted before the end of 2023.
