Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體), the nation’s second-biggest maker of computer memory chips, said yesterday it swung back to monthly profits last month as prices rose on improved demand following a more than two-year slump.
The recovery helped boost Powerchip’s sales to NT$5.38 billion (US$173 million) last month, marking the highest level in the 16 months since July last year, when the chipmaker generated NT$6.11 billion. That also represented more than two-fold growth from NT$1.67 billion a year earlier.
“Powerchip’s increases in capacity have been smooth, demand from customers is stable and DRAM prices have shown positive signs of stability,” company spokesman Eric Tan (譚仲民) said in a press release.
Coupled with the good yield of 65-nanometer technology, Powerchip turned a profit last month, which will strengthen the company’s financial position, Tan said. He declined to disclose details.
The last time that Powerchip posted a net profit was in the first quarter of 2007.
Powerchip, based in Hsinchu, said it had increased its equipment utilization to 100 percent last month from as low as 20 percent earlier this year to meet customer demand.
The chipmaker also shipped its first next-generation chips, or DDR3 DRAM, last month and plans to double the output to 10 million units per month soon.
“We are seeing growing demand for DDR3 chips because of PC replacement demand,” Tan said by phone.
Market researcher DRAMeXchange Technology Inc (集邦科技) said the increase in DRAM supply had reversed an uptrend since July.
Spot prices of mainstream DDR2 fell more than 15 percent to US$2.22 per unit last week. Yesterday, prices fell further to US$1.98 per unit, DRAMeXchange said.
Shares of Powerchip soared 2.08 percent to NT$3.43 yesterday, while share prices of rivals Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) and ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技) sank 2.67 percent and 1.56 percent respectively, to NT$21.9 and NT$1.89.
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