ProMOS Technologies Inc's (
ProMOS's net loss in the three months ended June 30 narrowed to NT$492 million (US$14 million), derived by subtracting first-quarter from first-half earnings released by the company, a venture between Germany's Infineon Technologies AG and Mosel Vitelic Inc (
Increasing output at a new factory that uses Infineon technology are expected to help end two quarters of losses as demand for personal computers improves, ProMOS said.
The company and Munich-based Infineon were the first to build plants that make 12-inch wafers, which more than double the number of chips that can be made from standard wafers and may trim costs by a third.
"ProMOS's 12-inch plant is one of the most advanced in the world," said Johnny Lin, an analyst with Yuanta Core Pacific Securities (
ProMOS also is getting a 30 percent premium on new chips that few rivals can make, he said.
ProMOS's new factory is operating profitably, company vice president Albert Lin (
The company is one of the first to make so-called DDR400 memory chips, which help speed the operation of PCs powered by new semiconductors introduced earlier this year by Intel Corp, the world's biggest chipmaker.
ProMOS shares rose NT$1, or 6.2 percent, to NT$17.20 on the TAIEX yesterday, bringing the stock's gain this year to 79 percent.
Shares of Nanya Technology Corp (
The spot price of the benchmark 256-megabit, 266-megahertz double-data-rate dynamic random-access memory chip rose to US$4.30 yesterday from US$3.61 on June 30, according to Dramexchange.com, an online marketplace for the semiconductors in Taipei.
Many analysts say US$4 is the break-even point for most makers.
"If prices can stay above US$4, all the suppliers in Taiwan should make profits in the second half," Johnny Lin said.
The price is still less than half the peak of US$8.88 on Nov. 4. ProMOS last posted a quarterly profit in the fourth quarter.
For the first half of this year, ProMOS said it had a net loss of NT$1.5 billion, without providing a year-ago comparison.
The company said in its e-mail statement the loss was less than the NT$2 billion it expected.
"The general economic situation is better than it was last year," Albert Lin said.
ProMOS had a loss of NT$1.4 billion in the second quarter of last year.
Mosel, whose chairman Hu Hung-chiu (胡洪九) is also chairman of ProMOS, yesterday said last year's net loss narrowed by a fifth to NT$15.3 billion from NT$19.8 billion in 2001.
Trading of the company's shares was halted in May after it failed to report last year's and this year's first-quarter results on time. The company still hasn't posted results for the first quarter.
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