SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)–Singapore chip tester United Test and Assembly Center Ltd. (U12.SG) should post a higher third quarter profit, boosted by an acquisition in Thailand, while its rival STATS ChipPAC Ltd. (S24.SG) likely swung into the black despite a soft semiconductor industry.

Amid a cautious third quarter for the chip industry, STATS will likely post flat earnings from the second quarter while UTAC is expected to report sequentially higher numbers, according to analysts.

STATS will release its results Thursday morning. UTAC’s earnings will be out Thursday after the stock market closes at 0900 GMT.

The average of a Dow Jones Newswires poll of three analysts forecasts STATS to post a net profit of $18 million, unchanged from the second quarter but a turnaround from the $1 million loss a year earlier.

Revenue for STATS, which is also listed on the Nasdaq, is forecast at $399.7 million, 4.4% lower than the $418.1 million reported in the second quarter, but 33% higher than the $301.3 million last year.

Credit Suisse analyst Lim Keng Hock said STATS’ third quarter operations will be “slow” due largely to high inventories at its customers.

STATS Chief Executive Tan Lay Koon said in July that macroeconomic uncertainties and higher inventory levels have made customers more cautious about their short-term business outlook.

The company also cut 460 jobs in Singapore and told Dow Jones Newswires that it would likely delay the start of operations at new plants in China and South Korea.

A poll of three analysts forecasts UTAC to post a net profit of $18.6 million, 20% higher than the $15.5 million in the second quarter and 77% higher than the $10.5 million posted last year.

Revenue for UTAC is forecast at $160.9 million, up 33% from the second quarter and 91% higher than the $84.4 million posted last year.

UOB analyst Dharmo Soejanto said the “sharp” growth in revenue is due largely to UTAC’s acquisition of NSEB, a chip-packaging company in Thailand.

NSEB, which has been renamed UTAC Thai Ltd., is expected to provide a full quarter’s contribution for the first time in the third quarter, Soejanto said.

The Thai unit, which was bought for $175 million in June, contributed one month’s worth of revenue in the second quarter.

Another analyst said UTAC’s revenue growth will also come from orders from customers in its dynamic random access memory chips business.

The company told Dow Jones Newswires in August that it plans to open a third plant in Bangkok in the second half of 2007.

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