Computer memory chipmaker Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子) yesterday reported that net losses last year widened to NT$8.61 billion (US$269.2 million), or a loss per share of NT$2.36.
The company posted net losses of NT$7.36 billion, or NT$2 per share, in the previous year.
Fourth-quarter results were promising, however, with the company swinging into a profit of NT$342 million, compared with losses of NT$983 million in the previous quarter and losses of NT$3.43 billion a year earlier.
The last quarter also marked the end of 10 consecutive quarterly losses since the second quarter of 2007, when the chipmaker posted NT$1.37 billion in losses.
SALES GROWTH
Quarterly revenue reached NT$6.51 billion in the three months ending Dec. 31, representing an increase of 14.4 percent from NT$5.69 billion in the third quarter and 72.2 percent from NT$3.78 billion a year ago, a company statement posted on its Web site said.
However, cumulative revenue from January to last month was down 10.5 percent to NT$19.53 billion, from NT$21.83 billion in 2008.
Winbond attributed its quarterly revenue growth to its strategic shift to specialty memory and NOR flash chips used in mobile phones, liquid-crystal-display TVs, as well as networking and other consumer electronics.
The company used to focus on the volatile dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip business, which was subject to industry gluts and low prices.
About 75 percent of sales in the fourth quarter came from specialty DRAM, mobile RAM and NOR flash memory chips; commodity DRAM’s share has been declining on a quarterly basis, the company said.
Quarterly revenue from specialty DRAM increased on strong consumer electronics demand and rising average selling prices, it said, while sales of NOR flash rose about 30 percent from the third quarter and those of mobile RAM grew about 60 percent.
“Thanks to higher ASPs, better product mix and cost reduction, both revenue and profit for the fourth quarter increased from the third quarter,” Winbond said in the statement.
“The company successfully returned to profit and retained a positive net cash flow every quarter during this [economic] downturn,” it said.
PROSPECTS
For the current quarter, Winbond said it was optimistic on prospects for the three major divisions and that it expected to start producing graphics RAM chips.
The company said it expected stable performance from its specialty DRAM business despite slowing seasonal demand. It also forecast continued growth in mobile RAM and NOR flash revenues given strong market demand and increasing output of 90-nanometer NOR flash from its 300mm (12-inch) wafer fab.
The company said it expected gross margin to rise continuously this quarter, after expanding to 16 percent in the fourth quarter from minus 2 percent in the third quarter.
Shares of the memory chipmaker dropped 4.8 percent to NT$7.90 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, before the company disclosed its fourth-quarter and last year’s financial results.
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