ProMOS set to sell NT$8.2 billion in shares overseas

ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德), the nation's second-largest maker of computer-memory chips, said it plans to sell new shares overseas, which are worth about US$241 million.

ProMOS's board approved the sale of as many as 600 million new shares, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp, without providing details on a schedule or how the proceeds would be used.

The shares would be worth NT$8.2 billion (US$241 million) based on Tuesday's closing price of NT$13.70.

ProMOS plans to raise as much as US$300 million in the first quarter to help finance expansion, vice president Albert Lin (林育中) said in an interview on Tuesday.

The company plans to raise spending for expansion next year by a third to US$310 million from this year.

The company will start construction of a second plant that makes 12-inch silicon wafers, which more than doubles the number of chips that can be made from standard 8-inch discs.

ProMOS said it had profit of NT$864 million in the third quarter, ending two quarters of losses.

The July-to-last-month figure, based on unaudited numbers, compares with a loss of NT$1.7 billion a year ago. Sales rose by almost three-fifths to NT$4.7 billion from NT$3 billion.

ProMOS is one of the first in the world to open a factory that makes larger silicon wafers that help cut production costs by a third.

The company sold about 40 percent of production to other contract clients in the third quarter, including Hewlett-Packard Co.