Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), the world’s biggest NOR flash memorychip supplier, yesterday said its board of directors has approved new capital expenditure of NT$14.2 billion (US$459.25 million) to boost high-end chip capacity to meet customers’ demand.
Macronix did not give a timeframe for the proposed capital expenditure.
The figure is more than double this year’s budget of NT$5.8 billion for new manufacturing equipment.
The proposal aims to “increase high-end 12-inch capacity and to boost research and development,” the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
“Generally speaking, low-quality and low-density [NOR flash chips] will continue to be under pressure from an oversupply. However, high-quality and high-density [chips] will be in short supply for the rest of the year,” Macronix chairman Miin Wu (吳敏求) told reporters last month.
Macronix mostly supplies high-end and high-quality NOR flash chips.
Since the beginning of this year, the Hsinchu-based company has faced difficulty meeting customers’ demand.
Macronix in July said that its factories were working at full capacity and that it plans to upgrade its technologies to increase output.
Growing demand for NOR flash chips used in industrial, automotive and medical devices also had squeezed its capacity, it added.
Macronix last month saw its revenue climb to the highest in 11 months to NT$3.75 billion, thanks to rising demand and chip prices.
That brought the company’s third-quarter revenue to NT$10.04 billion, up 13 percent from NT$8.88 billion in the second quarter, company data showed.
The chipmaker is scheduled to hold an investors’ conference tomorrow to provide its latest business outlook and last quarter’s financial results.
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