Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子) yesterday said net income expanded for the second straight quarter to NT$269 million (US$9.27 million) as gross margin improved to the highest level in three quarters, but the results are a far cry from the same period of last year.
Second-quarter net profit more than doubled from NT$118 million in the first three months, the local memory chipmaker’s financial statement showed. On an annual basis, the results represented a sharp decline from NT$1.24 billion in the second quarter of last year.
Gross margin rose to 17 percent last quarter from 14 percent in the first quarter, the best since the second quarter of last year, when gross margin stood at 24 percent.
Winbond’s second-quarter net profit was lower than the NT$314 million estimated by Concord Securities (康和證券), according to a report on July 19.
Concord gave a “neutral” rating on Winbond, saying the company was under growing pricing pressure for its mobile DRAM chips and weak growth momentum for specialty DRAM, which was its biggest revenue source, making up 42 percent last quarter.
Winbond supplies mobile DRAM chips to customers including Micron Technology Inc and Spansion Inc, Concord said.
Winbond said oversupply was hurting prices for its chips across the board this quarter and orders for its mobile DRAM chips could reduce further as customers are digesting excessive inventories and shifting to new platforms. Specialty DRAM demand would also be flat.
“Winbond is cautious about the third quarter, which used to be the peak season, because of the impact of the US and Europe debt crisis. The company will optimize its product portfolio to cope with fast changes in the industry,” the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Mobile DRAM chips accounted for 25 percent of the total revenue of NT$7.42 billion last quarter, down from 28 percent in the first quarter because of weak handset demand in China, it said.
However, it expects to see some progress in its flash memorychip business as firms start to design products using its new chips in the second half of this year.
Flash memorychips made up 34 percent of Winbond’s revenue, making the business its second-biggest revenue source.
Winbond shares closed limit-down yesterday at NT$7.08, having fallen 17.77 percent so far this year, compared with the TAIEX’s decline of 12.48 percent over the same period.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last