ChipMOS's revenue rose 36.7% to a record and both listings fell; it trades at 3.36 times sales
ChipMOS posted the best quarter in its history on the AI memory squeeze, and both of its listings fell on the news. The shares still trade near three times their historical sales multiple, and the cycle question lands with earnings on November 10.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
Both listings fell on the best quarter in company history
ChipMOS−4.23% — ChipMOS, down 4.23 percent today, the Hsinchu company that assembles and tests other people's memory chips, reported the best quarter in its history on October 8: third-quarter revenue of NT$8,400.8 million (US$263.8 million), up 36.7% from a year earlier and 13.8% from the second quarter, with September alone up 33.8% 1. Management's explanation was the AI memory squeeze: demand outpacing available memory supply, with new capacity already committed to customer forecasts and long-term supply agreements 1.
Investors answered by selling. The company's New York-listed ADR (Nasdaq: IMOS) fell 2.49% in evening trading, and its Taipei-listed shares closed at NT$123.00, down 3.91%, after a year that ran from NT$29.55 to a NT$133.00 high 23. Samsung, the same day, forecast a near-ninefold jump in quarterly operating profit and still fell about 2.4% in South Korea, with the estimate below analyst consensus 4. Both records closed as down days.
The quarter was built in July
The record carries a flat patch. July's NT$2,823.0 million was the highest month since 2014; August then fell 1.3% and September rose 0.2% 51. Year-on-year growth stays huge partly because last year was the trough: gross margin bottomed at 6.6% in the second quarter of 2025 and reached 18% in the second quarter of 2026, when net profit hit NT$891.7 million against a year-earlier loss 5.
The price already assumes the recovery persists. GuruFocus puts the stock at 3.36 times sales against a 1.22 historical median, and the two investment managers GuruFocus tracks as holders have both trimmed their positions in recent quarters 6. The average analyst target on the Taipei shares, NT$120, sits below the NT$123.00 close 3.
ChipMOS's record quarter was built in July; the run rate has flatlined since
Data
| Monthly revenue | |
|---|---|
| May 2026 | NT$2,384.3M |
| Jun 2026 | NT$2,538.4M |
| Jul 2026 | NT$2,823M |
| Aug 2026 | NT$2,785.7M |
| Sep 2026 | NT$2,792M |
Upstream, the front end is sold out
ChipMOS's revenue is service fees on capacity already promised under contract, so the cycle question is a question about its customers. Its 2025 annual report names Micron−4.35% — Micron, down 4.35 percent today, Nanya Technology and Winbond among them, with the top five at 61% of revenue 7. Memory work passed display drivers, the panel chips that used to be its main business, as the largest slice of revenue in the second quarter 8.
The demand those agreements hang from is visible upstream. Micron has warned that demand for memory and storage could exceed supply through 2027 and 2028, with more than 75% of its planned fiscal 2027 output already committed 4.
The cycle question lands on November 10
Full results land on November 10 23, and the fourth quarter is where the two forces cross. The market research firm TrendForce sees fourth-quarter contract prices for conventional DRAM rising 10 to 15%, and NAND flash up 15 to 20% 4.
The filing's risk runs the other way: in past DRAM oversupplies, ChipMOS's service fees fell in tandem with chip prices 7. Utilization would slip first, before reported revenue does, because the filing ties gross margin to capacity utilization 7. No filing or forecast dates the supply response for ChipMOS's end markets; between now and the print, the next monthly revenue number will show which force is live.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
