Nanya Technology Corp (
The growth momentum would extend into the current quarter and chip supply would be tight during the second half as computer vendors would use higher-priced memory chips with more storage, the chipmaker said.
"The third quarter looks very good ... Prices are rising and we expect the price hikes will continue through September, which will also push the gross margin higher," said Nanya Technology spokesman Pai Pei-lin (白培霖).
During the second quarter, Nanya Technology said net income rocketed to NT$3.7 billion (US$113 million), or NT$0.95 per share for the April-June period, compared to losses of NT$972 million in the same period last year.
Revenues jumped around 70 percent to NT$17.52 billion from NT$10.39 billion a year earlier.
"The price for DDR2 [second-generation double data rate] rose and shipments were both good in the second quarter," Pai said.
Average selling prices climbed 7 percent year-on-year and shipments expanded annually by 60 percent, he added.
DDR2 chips, which feature faster speeds, higher data bandwidth, accounted for over half of Nanya Technology's revenues last quarter.
"The [second-quarter] results are too good to be true," said Wang Wan-li (
Nanya Technology's quarterly net income was about 15 percent higher than the NT$3.2 billion projected by Wang.
"The price in June did not fall as fast as I expected," Wang explained.
During the first six months of the year, Nanya Technology had accumulated net income of NT$5.75 billion , or NT$1.5 a share, up 18 percent compared to the same period last year.
In addition to improving fundamentals, Nanya Technology also reported a significant increase of NT$1.5 billion in non-operating income, mostly from Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技), compared to NT$512 million in the second quarter of last year.
Inotera, which runs an advanced 12-inch wafer factory, plans to start production in a second one in the first quarter of 2007, is a joint venture between Nanya Technology and Infineon Technologies AG's memory chip unit Qimonda AG.
Inotera said net income for the second-quarter more than tripled to NT$4.19 billion, or NT$1.46 per share, from a year ago, while revenues more than doubled to NT$10.39 billion.
Inotera said net income more than doubled to NT$6.85 billion, or NT$2.51 a share, in the first half of the year, compared to NT$2.9 billion a year earlier.
Nanya Technology, which counts on Inotera for expansion in output, now holds about 36 percent of Inotera.
Inotera expected production to increase more than 5 percent quarter-on-quarter during the July-September period and double-digit growth in the fourth quarter after it completes the transition to chip production with advanced 90-nanometer process technology.
Shares in Nanya Technology and Inotera rose almost 7 percent and 5 percent to NT$21.8 and NT$35.75, respectively, on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
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