Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體), the nation’s No. 2 computer memory chipmaker, yesterday said its board approved plans to repay debts, including those owed to Japan’s Elpida Memory Inc, because its financial situation had improved on recovering demand.
One of the plans is to recoup an unspecified amount of common shares of Rexchip Electronics Inc (瑞晶電子) that Powerchip sold to Elpida in August, the company said in a stock exchange filing. Powerchip had sold the shares to repay debts to Elpida. Rexchip is a joint venture between the two firms.
In August, Elpida took 350 million common shares of Rexchip from Powerchip for around NT$3.7 billion (US$114 million). After the transaction, Powerchip’s holding in Rexchip was reduced to 30.84 percent from 42.8 percent early this year.
The board also yesterday gave the go-ahead to a management proposal to hire financial consultant Citigroup Global Markets Taiwan Ltd to negotiate with bond holders for different repayment terms before the US$133 million in bonds are due on Feb. 2.
On Dec. 1, Powerchip said it swung back to monthly profits last month as rebounding chip prices helped last month’s sales soar to a 16-month high of NT$5.38 billion.
The spot price of benchmark computer memory chips surged 6.15 percent to US$2.44 per unit yesterday, Taipei-based researcher DRAMeXchange Technology Inc (集邦科技) said.
The researcher forecast a severe supply constraint in the second half of next year.
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