Memorychip producer Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) yesterday reported a fourth straight quarterly loss, of NT$2.29 billion (US$72.67 million), for the last quarter, amid the third consecutive unprofitable year for the company last year.
However, Macronix president Lu Chih-yuan (盧志遠) said he expects the chipmaker to swing into profit in the second half of this year by saving on legal costs after it settled a lengthy patent lawsuit with rival Spansion Inc on Tuesday.
“We spent more than NT$1 billion on litigation expenses last year; at least we will not have the expenditure this year,” Lu said at a news conference following a teleconference with investors.
Lu attributed the quarterly results to lower seasonal demand for all product lines and more than NT$600 million in litigation expenses recorded last quarter.
Macronix’s gross margin declined to 8 percent last quarter, from 17 percent in the third quarter of last year, mainly due to inventory write-off and declining sales of high-margin products, Lu said.
Shipments of ROM-type memory chips, which accounted for 33 percent of quarterly revenue, declined 8 percent quarterly due to weak demand from customers, he said.
Lu said the company had been through a rough time last year, but it is time to start recovering.
The firm’s debt-to-equity ratio last quarter was 49.2 percent, Lu said, adding that given the figure is under 50 percent, the firm’s financial status is still healthy.
For the whole year of last year, gross margin improved to 12 percent from the previous year’s 9 percent, indicating that Macronix was improving its profitability, Lu said.
Looking ahead, Lu said the company believes its memory chips used in Internet of Things-related products would be the key growth driver this year.
The company’s memory chips used in automotive, industrial and wireless sectors would also drive growth, he said.
Macronix’s range of memory chips that use ultra-low power consumption would give it an advantageous position in the market, Lu said.
The company has sent wearable-related product samples to 19 international well-known customers, Lu said.
Macronix’s flash memory chips accounted for 62 percent of the firm’s total revenue last year, an increase of 5 percent from the previous year, Lu said, adding that the firm expects the sales of its 36-nanometer NAND flash chips to expand this year due to strong demand for handheld devices.
Macronix shares declined 1 percent to NT$6.93 in Taipei trading yesterday, underperforming the TAIEX, which declined 0.88 percent.
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