Nanya Technology Corp (
Growth momentum will be even stronger in the second half of the year, as more new computers will be equipped with Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows Vista, which will help Nanya Technology, company spokesman Pai Pei-lin (
"Profits for this year will outpace 2005. We may have a chance to exceed the earnings made in 2004, which was a lucrative year for DRAM [dynamic random access memory] makers," Pai said.
Computers running the Vista operating system need much more memory than computers run on current operating systems, which analysts said would boost demand for memory chips.
Pai spoke to reporters at the company's booth at the annual Computex trade show, where Nanya Technology is showcasing the latest DDR2 (second-generation double data rate) chips that provide much faster speeds and higher data bandwidth for multimedia functions than its older-generation chips.
Pai said his confidence stemmed from constant solid demand, and limited supplies in the near term for memory chips.
"In order to satisfy demand from our customers, we reduced supply to the retail market to around 25 percent from 30 percent [of the total output] norm in May and June," Pai said.
Nanya supplies most of its memory chips on a contract basis to computer vendors, including the world's two largest PC makers Dell Inc and Hewlett Packard Co.
Rising demand has contributed to a supply crunch and driven contract prices up by about 50 percent. The benchmark DDR2 512MB chip shot to US$6.2 per unit late last month from US$4.22 per unit early this year, according to Taipei-based market researcher DRAMeXchange.
As a result, "Nanya Technology's gross margin for the second quarter will be more than 24 percent better than that in the first quarter because of price hikes," Pai said.
Nanya Technology beat most analysts' expectations by posting NT$2.04 billion in net income, or NT$0.54 a share, for the January to March quarter.
The firm's gross margin for the third quarter will improve even more, as chip prices will rebound next month on seasonal demand, continued supply constraints and more white-box computers using Vista starting in the second half of this year, following the lead of the major PC brands, he said.
Nanya's larger rival Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體) also had a bullish outlook.
"Growing adoption of Vista and demand for low-priced computers will fuel growth," said Peter Ting (
Ting was more optimistic than Pai, saying that memory chip prices would bounce back in the third quarter and the uptick would last for the next three quarters.
But DRAMeXchange said that memory chip prices would fall in the third quarter this year after hitting a peak this quarter, amid easing chip shortages.
Nanya Technology shares climbed 3.88 percent to NT$20.10 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, while Powerchip shares jumped 4.72 percent to NT$22.2 on the over-the-counter GRETAI Securities Market.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last