Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the nation's largest maker of computer memory chips, said it posted a loss in the third quarter of the year compared with a profit in the year-ago period, partly because of higher costs involved with the testing of its semiconductors.
The net loss totaled about NT$169 million (US$5 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with net income of NT$586 million a year ago, Nanya said in a release of unaudited results.
Sales, which companies in Taiwan report monthly, rose by 4 percent to NT$8.2 billion in the period from NT$7.9 billion.
The loss was partly a result of Taipei-based Nanya increasing its testing costs after customer Dell Inc, the world's second-biggest maker of personal computers, returned some shipments, Nanya vice president Charles Kau (
In addition, the company took a NT$455 million charge in the period, he said, without providing details.
The problems with Round Rock, Texas-based Dell may be a setback for Nanya.
The computer memory chipmaker was the fastest growing maker of memory chips last year with sales of DRAM, or dynamic random-access memory chips, surging more than threefold to US$849 million from US$273 million a year earlier, according to the industry researcher Gartner Inc.
Nanya is continuing to invest in new plants and equipment, saying on July 14 that it raised US$232 million in an overseas share sale to finance a chip plant it's building with Germany's Infineon Technologies AG.
Nanya's shares have risen 22 percent since Jan. 1, compared with a 45 percent gain for ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), Taiwan's second-largest memory-chip maker.
The nation's third-largest maker of computer memory chips, Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (
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