Elpida Memory Inc, the world’s No. 3 maker of computer memory chips, plans to buy all of Powerchip Technology Corp’s (力晶科技) DRAM semiconductors as the companies deepen their partnership to compete against Samsung Electronics Co.
Powerchip could dedicate all its DRAM production capacity to Tokyo-based Elpida starting as early as April, Tokyo-based Elpida president Yukio Sakamoto said in an interview yesterday.
Sakamoto said in October last year he’s considering buying shares of Taiwanese chipmakers to increase capacity and compete with Samsung, the world’s biggest maker of chips that help PCs juggle multiple programs.
Powerchip and Elpida formed Rexchip Electronics Corp (瑞晶電子) in 2006 to make DRAM chips in Taiwan.
Powerchip, Taiwan’s largest memory chipmaker, said yesterday it would transition to becoming a chip foundry this year as the model will provide stable operating profit, while reporting its biggest loss in six quarters after prices fell.
The company’s NAND flash and foundry businesses will account for more than 50 percent of production by year’s end, the statement said.
Powerchip will shift from a “PC orientation” to smartphones, chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) said at a press briefing.
Fourth-quarter net loss was NT$8.33 billion (US$287 million), compared with profit of NT$1.6 billion a year earlier, the Hsinchu-based company said. The loss was wider than both analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Powerchip joins Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) and Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技) in reporting deteriorating results after demand for the most common type of memory chip used in computers declined. The loss included a NT$4.3 billion inventory writedown, highlighting the cyclical nature of the industry, Powerchip said.
Revenue for the quarter was NT$13.3 billion, the company said. Capital spending will rise to NT$13 billion this year from NT$7 billion last year, Powerchip president Alex Wang (王其國) said. Powerchip had planned to spend NT$16 billion last year, he said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last