Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the nation’s largest computer memory chipmaker, aims to double its global market share to 10 percent this year as capacity is expected to grow rapidly after the completion of an upgrade to next-generation technology this summer, a company executive said yesterday.
Because the firm converted to stack technology used by its US partner Micron Technology Inc and to 50-nanometer technology, Nanya Technology only expanded capacity by 15 percent last year.
“This year, our capacity will substantially increase as we will complete technological conversion [to 42-nanometer technology] and start production with new technology,” company president Jih Lien (連日昌) told reporters at a press conference.
To overcome its technological bottleneck, Nanya Technology will expand production at its 12-inch plant to 50,000 wafers a month, from the existing 30,000 wafers, he said.
That would help Nanya claim a larger global market share.
“We will double our market share,” Lien said. “It [10 percent] is [a] reachable [target].”
The chipmaker said it would stick to its previous budget of NT$12 billion (US$407.7 million) to buy new equipment this year.
Nanya Technology also operates an 8-inch plant, from which it churns out chips for other companies, or non-computer memory chips such as memory chips used in mobile phones and tablet devices.
In order to minimize price erosion, Nanya Technology intends to boost production of non-computer memory chips to account for 50 percent of the company’s overall revenues next year, Lien said, from a target of 40 percent by the end of this year.
Separately, Nanya president Pai Pei-lin (白培霖) expects computer memory chip prices to rise further after easing oversupply drove up prices by a low single digit percent last month.
“The second quarter will be a better period than the first quarter because of improving oversupply,” Pai said.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS