Memorychip maker Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) yesterday reported a 2.81 percent increase in revenues last month, ending two straight months of declines.
Revenues expanded by 2.81 percent to NT$2.08 billion (US$69 million) last month, compared with NT$2.03 billion in November. On an annual basis, revenues plunged 41.42 percent from NT$8.08 billion in December 2010.
“Because of production cuts, spot prices for standard PC DRAM chips have started to trend up,” company spokesman Eric Tang (譚仲民) said in a statement. “Powerchip is aggressively introducing 30 nanometer technology in the hope that the company can seize the opportunity to make profits amid a mild upturn in chip price this year.”
The price of PC DRAM chips climbed 0.11 percent to US$0.96 per unit yesterday, bringing the price one step closer to the cost level of most DRAM chipmakers, according to TrendForce Corp’s (集邦科技) real-time pricing information.
Tang said Powerchip expects to see a marked contribution from its contract business this quarter on the back of strong demand for chips used in mobile devices, such as smartphones.
Last month, Powerchip allocated 60 percent of the capacity at a 12 inch plant to its contract business, which will be translated into higher output later this quarter and thereby give a lift to the company’s revenues this quarter.
Powerchip also said it has received orders for its first multi-chip package products, which included its entry-level, low-density NAND flash memory chips and mobile DRAM chips in a package, according to the company’s statement.
Rising demand for non-PC DRAM chips would help the company’s transformation and its financial stability, Tang said.
Powerchip, which has been working hard to shift away from the volatile PC DRAM chip market, said in November that about 60 percent of its revenues are from its contract chip manufacturing business, while PC DRAM only accounts for 30 percent.
Because of severe oversupply and a price crunch, Powerchip’s revenues more than halved to NT$37.72 billion last year, compared with NT$80.83 billion in 2010, the company’s statement said.
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