Memorychip manufacturer Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) yesterday posted a second straight quarter of net profit of NT$703 million (US$22.77 million) for the final quarter of last year, as robust demand boosted prices.
That represented an 11 percent increase from the NT$633 million it made in the third quarter last year, said the company, which supplies chips to Japanese video game console maker Nintendo Co.
Gross margin improved to 32 percent from 31 percent in the previous quarter due to higher factory utilization, it said.
Macronix’s book value rose to NT$5.07 per share at the end of last year, due to improving profitability, it said.
The company said it is confident about maintaining a book value of NT$5 per share this quarter, paving the way for the removal of margin trading curbs imposed by regulators in May, at the earliest.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp in May last year restricted trading in Macronix shares to cash-only transactions after the firm’s book value fell below the threshold of NT$5 per share.
For the whole of last year, Macronix saw its losses narrow to NT$243 million, compared with losses of NT$4.19 billion in 2015, its financial statement showed.
Macronix president Lu Chih-yuan (盧志遠) said he was optimistic about the company’s revenue and earnings growth this year, given the rising demand for all of its three major products.
Prices for NOR flash memory chips, Macronix’s biggest revenue source, have increased 5 to 10 percent since the beginning of this year, with the price uptrend likely to continue throughout this year, Lu said.
“Our factories are fully loaded now, but supply of NOR flash remains tight,” Lu said.
Macronix became the world’s top NOR flash memorychip supplier last quarter, replacing Cypress Semiconductor Corp of the US.
Its NOR flash memorychips are primarily used in mobile phones, consumer electronics and automotive devices.
When asked if Macronix was interested in buying Micron Technology Inc’s NOR flash chip unit, Lu said his company “would be open-minded about such a deal.”
Benefiting from Nintendo’s strong business outlook, the outlook for Macronix’s ROM business is good, he said.
Macronix plans to spend NT$2.35 billion on capital expenditure this year on advanced technology research and development.
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