Taiwan chemical maker Eternal Materials is seeing steady growth in electronic materials shipments, a good sign for investors and for the chip and circuit board supply chain.

• July sales rose 24% from a year earlier as all three business units shipped more.
• Demand for PCBs, ABF substrates, and chips is heating up, lifting sales of dry film photoresist, precision equipment, silica microspheres, and advanced chip packaging materials.
• Precision equipment orders are now being signed off by customers in bulk, which should sharply boost second-half sales.
• Profit margins are still weighed down by working through expensive older inventory.
• Pre-tax profit fell from last July only because the year-ago figure included a one-off gain from selling a China subsidiary stake.

Outlook: Sales are expected to climb month by month through the third quarter as advanced packaging shipments ramp up on schedule.