Shares of local memory chipmaker Macronix International Co Inc (旺宏電子) yesterday rallied on speculation that it would soon finalize plans for a new 12-inch plant to meet customer demand.
Macronix shares leapt 1.53 percent to close at NT$16.55, the highest since Nov. 19 after the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported that the chipmaker was close to wrapping up talks with local computer memory chipmaker ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技) to purchase equipment for NT$5 billion (US$155 million).
Macronix, which supplies memory chips used in consumer electronics, has been seeking partners or cost-effective solutions such as buying old equipment to expand capacity as building 12-inch plants has become more affordable.
“We are considering different solutions to expand capacity including buying used equipment,” Macronix spokesman Lin Yun-long (林雲龍) said by phone. “We expect demand to grow.”
On the company’s plans for product and capacity development, Macronix chairman Miin Wu (吳敏求) told reporters at the company’s Hsinchu headquarters in September that it could spend between NT$10 billion and NT$20 billion on operating a 12-inch plant starting in 2011.
Wu said a supply constraint was expected next year because supply was falling.
Part of the reason for the drop was rival Spansion Inc’s decision to exit certain markets and focus on its core product portfolio as part of restructuring plans, he said.
This quarter, factory utilization is expected to be between 88 percent and 90 percent, compared with 100 percent in the third quarter, Wu said in October.
Macronix supplies Nor flash memory chips used in consumer electronics ranging from Wii video game consoles made by Nintendo Co to liquid-crystal-display (LCD) televisions.
As of the second quarter, Macronix had increased its market share to around 8 percent.
ProMOS spokesman Ben Tseng (曾邦助) said the company was negotiating with potential buyers of equipment, but declined to say whether Macronix was one of them.
Macronix had accumulated NT$21 billion in cash at the end of the third quarter compared with NT$18.64 billion at the end of last year, the company said in a financial statement on its Web site.
Emerging from the deep losses that have plagued local chipmakers, Macronix earned NT$3.82 billion in the January-to-September period by offering memory chips that are used in diversified products and are less volatile price-wise.
Macronix operates one 6-inch and one 8-inch factory.
Shares of ProMOS fell 0.46 percent yesterday to NT$2.18 amid falling spot prices for computer memory chips.
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