ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), the nation’s third-largest computer memory chip maker, yesterday said it was considering shutting down an advanced 12-inch factory for several weeks to trim costs amid the prolonged industry slump.
ProMOS said it planned to adjust manufacturing facilities to reduce operation expenses and to save on costs to cope with sluggish market demand, a company filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday.
“We are considering shutting down a plant in Hsinchu for several weeks during the interim period before getting new orders for the third quarter,” ProMOS spokesman Ben Tseng (曾邦助) said. “We hope to reduce as much spending as we can, such as electricity fees.”
Tseng confirmed a Chinese-language Economic Daily News report, which yesterday said ProMOS planned to close a plant for a month.
The 12-inch plant in Hsinchu mostly produces a small volume of less advanced chips for customers, while another 12-inch plant in Taichung is the major manufacturing site for its dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, Tseng said.
Last month, ProMOS’ sales plunged 75 percent year-on-year to NT$608 million (US$17.99 million), which is lower than the spending on daily operations — between NT$800 million and NT$1 billion a month — as the company reported last month.
As of the middle of last month, ProMOS had NT$200 million in cash and an accumulated NT$85.9 billion in debt.
ProMOS shares were unchanged at NT$0.9 yesterday ahead of the deadline for its investors to redeem US$335 million in overseas bonds tonight.
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