Singapore remains Inari’s largest geographical market in its financial year 2022, accounting for 86% of its revenue, followed by China and Malaysia with 8% and 5%, respectively.
PETALING JAYA: Inari Amertron Bhd
’s share price tumbled nearly 6% to RM2.64 following Apple Inc’s plans to replace Broadcom Inc’s chips in its devices with homegrown components by early 2025.
Citing sources, Bloomberg had reported that Apple would replace Broadom’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips by end-2024 or early 2025.
Apple is already pursuing a follow-up version that will combine cellular modem, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities into a single component.
However, Broadcom will continue to supply Apple with other components, including radio-frequency chips and those that handle wireless charging although Apple has been working on customising those parts as well.
Apple is Broadcom’s largest customer and accounted for about 20% of the chipmaker’s revenue in the last fiscal year amounting to almost US$7bil (RM30.62bil).
Meanwhile, Reuters, in a report citing AB Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon, said Apple’s decision is likely to hit Broadcom’s revenue by between US$1bil (RM4.37bil) and US$1.5bil (RM6.56bil).
The report said Broadcom’s radio frequency chips were unlikely to be replaced in the short term due to its complex design and manufacturing process.
Apple had opted to use Apple Silicon, removing most of Intel Corp processors from its Mac computers. The changes are hitting the biggest makers of wireless electronics, the report added.
Reports also suggested that Inari has been heavily dependent on US-based fabless chips designed by Broadcom, which in turn is a key component supplier to Apple.
Singapore remains Inari’s largest geographical market in its financial year 2022, accounting for 86% of its revenue, followed by China and Malaysia with 8% and 5%, respectively.
Many equity analysts and industry observers assumed that a huge chunk of Inari’s revenue from Singapore was derived from Broadcom.
Inari’s share price and earnings performance had echoed the two US tech heavyweights, Broadcom and Apple, over the past five years.
Apple and Broadcom did not immediately respond to Bloomberg’s and Reuters’ requests for comment.
According to Inari’s 2022 annual report, the Retirement Fund Inc is its largest shareholder with a stake of 8.75%. This is followed by the Employees Provident Fund and Insas Technology Bhd, with a stake of 6.22% and 4.61% respectively.
