Shares of Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體) and ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技) rallied near their 7 percent daily limit yesterday on news that Japan’s top memory chipmaker, Elpida Memory Inc, was considering a four-way merger involving the two Taiwanese chipmakers.
The stock price of Taiwan’s top computer memory chipmaker, Powerchip, jumped 6.97 percent to close at NT$3.07, while ProMOS’ rose 6.34 percent to NT$1.51, outperforming the benchmark TAIEX, which inched up 0.13 percent.
Shares of the nation’s No. 2 computer memory chipmaker, Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), were unchanged at NT$5.62 after reporting losses of NT$10.67 billion (US$318 million) in the fourth quarter, its second-biggest quarterly losses.
In Tokyo trading, shares of Elpida, the world’s third-largest maker of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips used in mobile phones and home electronics, climbed 2.3 percent to close at ¥545.
Earlier yesterday, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported that Elpida was in the final stages of talks to merge operations with ProMOS and two other unidentified Taiwanese companies amid plummeting demand in the semiconductor sector.
The NHK report didn’t identify the other two companies or say where it obtained the information, but speculation was rife that it was referring to Powerchip and Elpida-joint venture Rexchip Electronics Inc (瑞晶電子).
“While it is true that we are in talks with Taiwanese chipmakers, nothing has been decided at the moment,” said Hideki Saito, a spokesman at Elpida, in a report by Bloomberg yesterday.
Powerchip, however, dismissed the rumors.
“It’s old news. We are not pushing for such a consolidation. The only consolidation plan we have is the one we proposed to the government the other day,” Powerchip spokesman Eric Tan (譚仲民) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Industry sources said that Elpida had been trying to bring the four chipmakers together to create one big DRAM supplier that can rival South Korean chipmaker Samsung Electronics Co.
“Companies have been discussing all kinds of consolidation options, including the four-way merger. Pushing for a [four-way merger] plan is likely,” a source at a local DRAM company told Taipei Times on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Late last month, Powerchip and Rexchip jointly submitted an industry consolidation and bailout proposal to the Taiwanese government, but the Ministry of Economic Affairs rejected the plan. The companies did not disclose the content.
Earlier this month, beleaguered ProMOS filed its consolidation plan, in collaboration with both Rexchip and Elpida, to the government in hopes of obtaining assistance to avoid bankruptcy.
The government also turned down ProMOS’ proposal and told the company to revise it. A company official said yesterday the firm was still trying to reach a consensus among the companies involved in the proposal.
ProMOS said in a stock exchange filing yesterday that it had sold a piece of property to Kingston Technology Co for US$15 million to repay loans to a US memory chip company based in Fountain Valley, California.
Last week, ProMOS sold NT$580 million in manufacturing equipment to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, as part of its efforts to raise capital before its US$330 million overseas corporate debt matures on Feb. 14.
Unnamed government officials suggested last week that ProMOS’ creditors, led by the Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行) and Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), continue financing local DRAM makers through a loan-equity conversion scheme.
But Bank of Taiwan chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) said yesterday that the state-owned bank had no interest in securing stocks of cash-strapped high-tech firms, including ProMOS, to ease their financial strain.
“If the bank were to invest, we would not consider non-financial businesses but consider options we’re familiar with,” Chang said.
Additional reporting by Crystal Hsu
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI