Nanya Technology Corp (
Taiwan's fourth-largest mem-ory-chip maker by market value plans to sell 300 million shares as global depositary receipts at the end of this year or the beginning of next year, after Nanya's falling share price forced it to lower estimates of how much it could raise in Taiwan, said Executive Vice President Charles Kau (
The company's shares fell NT$1, or 6.9 percent, to NT$13.50, a record.
The share price fell 45 percent in the three months ended June 30.
The company has yet to decide on a manager or set a price for the sale.
Based on yesterday's closing share price of NT$13.50 a share, the sale would raise about NT$4.1 billion (US$117.5 million).
Nanya will also sell 500 million shares in Taiwan for NT$15 each to existing shareholders by the end of August, Kau said. That would raise NT$7.5 billion, 44 percent less than the original plan in May to raise NT$13.5 billion. The company lowered its share sale price once in June.
"Right now, the situation in Taiwan's market makes it very difficult to get enough cash," Kau said.
"That's why we need to go out to get capital."
Nanya plans to raise money to expand capacity at its chipmaking plants and to build a new plant capable of using 300mm wafers, compared with the current 200mm standard.
Bigger wafers lower costs because more chips can be cut from them.
Falling memory-chip prices forced Nanya to alter its fundraising plans and may force a further change if demand for memory chips fails to revive and boost prices in the second half of the year.
"If the situation is the same as it is now, it's hard seeing them succeed with the GDR sale," said Michael Yeh, who manages NT$400 million in Taiwan stocks at United Securities Investment Trust Corp (
"They'll look at market conditions in five months' time and may well delay the sale." The spot-market price of a benchmark PC 100 128 megabit dynamic random access memory chip is about US$1.83, its lowest this year, according to DRAMeXchange.com, the Web site of a memory-chip information clearing house.
Nanya plans to start building its new plant next March if the overseas share sale takes place on schedule. Production is set to begin in 2004.
A delayed sale would leave Nanya lagging further behind rival memory-chip makers such as ProMOS Technologies Inc (
Still, a later start may work to Nanya's advantage if it can catch a revival in chip demand.
``The depreciation costs of the 300mm plants are huge,'' said Yeh. ``The key is to build the plant in time for a market upturn.''
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2