Taiwan's King Yuan Electronics Company (KYEC), Sigurd Microelectronics and Ardentec are expected to focus on gaining more outsourcing from international IDMs in 2011, according to industry sources. The three wafer probing service providers generate most of their sales from local Taiwan-based fabless companies.

KYEC, Sigurd and Ardentec saw substantial growth in the contributions of sales from IDMs to their total revenues in the third quarter of 2010, the sources indicated.

KYEC, which mainly provides testing services for LCD driver ICs, memory chips and handset-related solutions, saw Taiwan-based fabless customers' contribution drop below 60% for the first time in the third quarter. Contribution from KYEC's non-Taiwan based IDM clients grew to 41% of its total revenues in the third quarter, up from 36% in the second. The rising contribution also buoyed the company's overall gross margin to 28.5% from 26% in the prior quarter.

Sigurd indicated it has landed more outsourcing from international IDMs, and plans to attract orders from new clients from Europe, Israel and Japan in 2011. Sales contribution from its non-Taiwan based clients is expected to reach 30% in 2011, compared to the 25% as of the end of third-quarter 2010.

Sigurd in end-2009 forged a supply contract with Standard Microsystems Co (SMSC), a US-based developer of smart mixed-signal connectivity solutions. Orders from SMSC contributed 7% to Sigurd's total sales as of the end of third-quarter 2010, compared to merely 0.5% in 2009.

Ardentec also enjoyed a ramp-up in demand from its IDM customers such as Texas Instruments (TI). Sales generated from IDM orders contributed 64% of Ardentec's total third-quarter revenues.

Ardentec has said that since the third quarter, demand from Europe- and US-based IDMs has been stronger than that from IC designers. The testing company also noted it is looking to build an operation hub in South Korea, striving to grab new orders from the local foundry vendors.