ProMos Technologies Inc (茂德科技), the Taiwanese memory-chip manufacturer, put a stop to over a year of quarterly losses by turning out a profit of NT$557.8 million (US$16 million) for the first quarter which ended March 31. Last year at the same time, the company posted a loss of NT$592 million.
The company also said it plans to launch "five to seven new products," said Albert Lin (
Talks with German chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG on transferring cutting-edge chip manufacturing technology, etching chips at 0.09 microns (90 nanometers) and 0.07 microns (70 nanometers), to its plants in Taiwan are also under way. No deal has been reached yet, according to Lin.
Lin also denied newspaper reports that ProMos and Infineon will cooperate on a state-of-the-art 12-inch semiconductor wafer fabrication plant.
"We are not in discussions with Infineon yet, we are just doing a feasibility study," Lin said.
Infineon owns 48 percent of ProMos, which is a joint venture between the German chipmaker and Mosel Vitelic Inc (
Infineon provides technology support for ProMos in return for use of a portion of the company's production.
ProMos expects to ramp up its production of chips at 0.11 microns by the second quarter next year, and by the third quarter wants to be able to produce 18,000 12-inch wafers per month using 0.11 micron technology.
Currently, wafer starts at the company's new 12-inch plant are at 5,000 wafers, but ProMos expects to ramp up to 9,000 wafers by the fourth quarter of this year.
ProMos is one of few companies in the world ramping production at an advanced technology 12-inch wafer plant.
These plants etch chips on silicon wafers that are nearly a third larger than those producing current mainstream plants, and chipmakers claim they will be able to save over 30 percent more per chip once their 12-inch plants are running at full steam.
The company also said it plans to spend US$300 million this year on new chip equipment.
It will spend US$100 million to upgrade an existing eight-inch wafer plant to the 0.11 process technology and US$200 million to increase production at its 12-inch chip plant.
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