Local memory chipmaker Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) yesterday reported its strongest quarterly net profits in three quarters as robust end demand for memory chips drove up prices and shipments.
Net income in the April-June period more than doubled to NT$2.28 billion (US$71.1 million) from NT$980 million in the same period last year, according to the company’s financial statement. On a quarterly basis, that represented nearly 40 percent growth from NT$1.63 billion.
Gross margin rose to 51 percent last quarter from 40 percent a year ago, surpassing the chipmaker’s target of 48 percent.
“Customer demand was robust in the first and second quarters ... Demand has exceeded supply,” Macronix chief financial executive Paul Yeh (葉沛甫) told an investor teleconference.
“We have never seen such strong second-quarter results in recent years,” Yeh said.
The growth momentum is expected to extend into the current quarter, company president Lu Chih-yuan (盧志遠) said.
“The third quarter will be better than the second quarter,” Lu said. “Average selling prices for our products will rise further at a similar rate as they did last quarter.”
Revenues are expected to grow to between NT$8 billion and NT$8.2 billion from last quarter’s NT$7.33 billion, Lu said.
Gross margin may be flat or edge up to 52 percent this quarter from last quarter’s 51 percent, he added.
The memory chipmaker’s major revenue source are NOR flash chips, which accounted for 68 percent of sales last quarter.
NOR flash was originally used for code storage, but has increasingly been adopted for data storage in a wide variety of applications, including mobile phones, digital cameras and high-definition TV.
The growth in NOR flash should offset declining demand for another type of memory chip, ROM. Macronix supplies ROM to Japanese game console maker Nintendo, which makes Wii consoles.
Because of resilient demand for NOR flash, factory utilization would be full again this quarter as it was last quarter, Macronix said.
Macronix expects to fully take over an advanced 12-inch fab it purchased from local PC memory chipmaker ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技) this quarter and to ramp up production in the first quarter of next year.
The company plans to spend NT$30 billion between this year and next to ramp up production, higher than its original estimate. Monthly output is expected to reach 20,000 12-inch wafers by the end of next year.
Part of the output will be used to produce new chips for mobile phones and automobiles, Lu said.
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