Shares of the nation’s major computer memory chipmakers, including Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體), rallied close to the 7 percent daily limit yesterday after major player Hynix Semiconductor Inc said it would cut output by 20 percent, providing a glimmer of hope for recovery.
Hynix’s latest move lifted investor confidence as a reduction in chip supply could help the overall dynamic random access memory (DRAM) industry make an earlier-than-expected recovery from a nearly two-year slump amid severe glut.
Shares of the nation’s biggest DRAM suppliers, including Powerchip and Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), jumped by between 6.75 percent and 6.98 percent yesterday, outperforming the benchmark TAIEX, which gained 2.35 percent.
South Korea-based Hynix, the world’s second-largest DRAM supplier, holds a 20 percent share of the global DRAM market and the cuts in production could lead to a 3 percent to 3.5 percent reduction in overall supply, Taipei-based market researcher DRAMeXchange Technology Inc (集邦科技) said in a report yesterday.
Together with production cutback plans by Powerchip and its Japanese partner, Elpida Memory Inc, DRAM supply could fall by 5 percent to 6 percent by early next year, DRAMeXchange said.
“To ensure an earlier recovery, some second-tier suppliers have suggested cutting output to ensure stability in market,” the researcher said.
This would drive DRAM supply further down and set overall reduction at 8 percent to 10 percent for the end of this year, which would also help DRAM players weather the industry’s severest slump in history, DRAMeXchange said.
Last week, Hynix said it would accelerate the retirement of an older and less efficient plants by early next year, which would result in a 20 percent reduction in DRAM chip output and a 40 percent reduction in NAND chips.
The spot price of benchmark DRAM chips has dropped by 20 percent since the end of the Beijing Olympics to well below most chipmakers’ cost level at between US$1.30 and US$1.50 per unit, DARMeXchange said.
All local DRAM chipmakers posted losses during the latest quarter as chip prices collapsed and constant price declines drove down the share prices of all local DRAM companies to below their NT$10 face value.
No other local DRAM maker has announced plans to trim production.
DRAMeXchange urged DRAM makers to look for improvement in revenues and return on equities by abandoning old ways of thinking and being more innovative.
Most DRAM makers have seen a significant decline in cash levels during the latest slowdown and have struggled to raise funds for operation and development, the researcher said.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS