Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子), a leading local memory chipmaker, saw losses shrink in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter owing to increased shipments of specialty DRAM.
The company reported a net loss of NT$655 million (US$20.2 million) in the third quarter, or a net loss per share of NT$0.18, in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. This compares with a net loss of NT$1.37 billion in the second quarter, and a net income of NT$631 million in the same period last year.
Gross profit rose to NT$605 million in the third quarter from NT$210 million in the previous quarter, the company's tallies showed. But the figure was sharply down from NT$2.755 billion a year ago.
Despite the quarterly improvement, "the company's overall profit still faced pressure from the slower demand for handheld mobile devices and a poor market for dynamic random access memory [DRAM] chips," Winbond said.
Revenue for the third quarter totaled NT$8.52 billion, compared with NT$7.26 billion in the previous quarter and NT$12.08 billion a year ago, the statement said.
For the first three quarters, Winbond reported a net loss of NT$1.67 billion, or a loss of NT$0.45 per share, on revenues of NT$25.29 billion.
Looking ahead, Winbond said that prices of logic chips would remain under pressure owing to intense competition in the computer segment and slower seasonal demand for consumer electronics.
As DRAM prices are expected to stay low, Winbond said it was maintaining its "conservative" view on fourth-quarter revenues -- which analysts on average estimate at NT$8 billion.
As for capital expenditure, the company expects to spend NT$19 billion next year to increase its 12-inch wafer fab production capacity.
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