Memorychip producer Macronix International Co Ltd (旺宏電子), which supplies chips to Japanese video game console maker Nintendo Co, yesterday posted a loss in the third quarter — its seventh quarterly loss in a row — but the loss shrank on a quarterly and annual basis.
The Hsinchu-based company posted a net loss of NT$908 million (US$30.4 million) in the July-to-September quarter, 51 percent less than the NT$1.85 billion loss it recorded in the previous quarter.
Macronix’s gross margin for the third quarter rose to 18 percent, the highest in the past seven quarters, from 4 percent in the second quarter and compared with 12 percent in the third quarter of last year.
However, the firm booked higher operating expenses last quarter, which increased 3 percent both sequentially and annually to NT$2.16 billion, according to the company’s statement.
Macronix attributed the increase in gross margin to higher revenue, better factory operation and improved yield rate, according to the statement.
Last quarter’s results translated into a loss per share of NT$0.26 in the third quarter, lower than a net loss per share of NT$0.52 in the second quarter and NT$0.33 a year ago, the producer of the so-called ROM products and NOR flash memory chips said in a statement.
Macronix is expecting a turnaround next year and said that revenue increased 28 percent to NT$6.71 billion in the third quarter from the previous quarter, thanks to increased demand for all its product lines.
However, on an annual basis, revenue for last quarter declined by 9 percent.
The company said its capacity utilization rate was 92 percent last quarter, up from 88 percent the previous quarter, on the back of improved factory efficiency, while its capital expenditure for the quarter was NT$1.74 billion, mainly for equipment procurement for its 12-inch fabrication process.
Macronix’s shares rose 0.7 percent to NT$7.18 yesterday. So far this year, the stock has declined 17.19 percent, underperforming the broader market’s 9.94 percent increase, the stock exchange’s data showed.
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