Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday posted a third consecutive monthly growth in revenue as shipments surpassed its forecast, thanks to recovering demand.
Revenue rose 3.24 percent to NT$4.24 billion (US$134.7 millions) last month, compared with NT$4.11 billion in April.
That was the highest revenue in four months and about half of the NT$8.33 billion it made in May last year, the DRAM chipmaker’s data showed.
Cumulative revenue in the first five months of the year totaled NT$19.73 billion, down 43.32 percent from NT$34.80 billion in the same period last year.
“Shipment numbers in April and May were better than the first quarter guidance [for the second quarter],” Nanya said.
About one-and-half months ago, the company told investors that shipments would grow by a single-digit percentage during the April-May period, from the January-to-March quarter.
After a four-quarter slump, demand across all segments began to improve this quarter, Nanya said.
The recovery is to extend into next quarter, fueled by seasonal demand for consumer electronics, such as set-top boxes and smart speakers, as well as the easing PC processor crunch from Intel Corp, it said, citing client feedback.
Demand for server DRAM is also rebounding this quarter, it said.
DRAM prices would continue to dip this quarter, but the pace of decline would slow compared with the first quarter’s 20 percent fall, it added.
DRAM for consumer electronics made up about 70 percent of Nanya’s shipments last quarter, while most of the remainder was PC DRAM, it said.
Slowing smartphone sales and weak server investment owing to the US-China trade dispute have negatively affected semiconductor demand, especially since China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為), one of the largest consumers of mobile DRAM, is under US trade sanctions.
Nanya had expected server DRAM would contribute about 10 percent to this year’s shipments, but pushed that back to next year.
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