Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the nation’s biggest computer chipmaker, yesterday said sales grew 3 percent last month, as rising prices offset a decline in shipments.
The Taoyuan-based company said in a statement that sales increased to NT$3.55 billion (US$120 million) last month, from NT$3.44 billion in January, joining smaller rival Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) in benefiting from a recent industrial pickup.
“Price increase is the main reason behind the growth,” Nanya spokesman Pai Pei-lin (白培霖) said by telephone. “Prices rose by 8 to 9 percent [month-on-month].”
Nanya sells a majority of its chips by contract to major brands, including Dell Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co and Acer Inc (宏碁), while about 40 percent is sold on the spot market.
The price rebound came faster than Pai’s forecast on Jan. 24, when he said he expected prices to pick up late this quarter at the earliest on the back of improving corporate PC replacement demand. PC chip prices plunged 50 percent sequentially to below the cost level of most chipmakers in the fourth quarter because of severe oversupply.
On an annual basis, sales last month were down 14 percent from NT$4.14 billion a year earlier, Nanya said.
By volume, Nanya shipped fewer DRAM chips on a monthly basis because there were fewer working days due to the Lunar New Year break, the company said. It did not provide specific figures.
In a separate statement, Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技), a DRAM venture between Nanya and US memory chip giant Micron Technology Inc, yesterday said sales last month fell 15 percent to NT$2.74 billion, from NT$3.22 billion in January. Last month’s sales also declined 18.6 percent from NT$3.36 billion a year ago.
On Wednesday, Powerchip said sales last month rose almost 3 percent from January to NT$3.41 billion.
Improving demand drove up DRAM prices, which helped boost sales, company spokesman Eric Tang (譚仲民) said in a statement.
Yesterday, Rexchip Electronics Inc (瑞晶電子), Powerchip’s DRAM joint venture with Japan’s Elpida Memory Inc, said its board had decided not to pay dividends this year. The chipmaker posted net earnings of NT$12.58 billion last year.
The board also approved a proposal to spend NT$3.56 billion to upgrade to 30-nanometer process technology this year.
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