STATS ChipPAC sees muted 2007 for industry revenue growth

SINGAPORE, Oct 26 (Reuters) STATS ChipPAC , the world's fourth-largest microchip packaging firm, expects 2007 to be a muted year in terms of industry revenue growth but the company should be able to improve its gross margins in a benign environment, its chief executive said on Thursday.

''The industry is looking for very modest revenue growth in 2007, probably mid single-digit. We have not completed our own planning but I think the industry outlook is for quite a muted year,'' Chief Executive Tan Lay Koon told Reuters in an interview.

Tan also said STATS ChipPAC expected to achieve gross margins of 20-25 percent in a benign business environment. The company's gross margins improved to 19.9 percent in the third quarter from from 16.8 percent a year earlier.

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