Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), which supplies read-only memory (ROM) chips to Japan’s Nintendo Co, yesterday said that its revenue last month jumped 18.7 percent to NT$2.88 billion (US$95.3 million) from NT$2.42 billion in June, thanks to rising demand.
That also represented growth of 34.1 percent from NT$2.15 billion a year earlier.
The company said it has accumulated NT$9 billion worth of inventory to cope with clients’ demand in the third and fourth quarter, which is the peak season for the game console industry.
An ongoing supply constraint has boosted chip prices in the second half this year, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said.
Macronix said all major products has entered “allocation mode” as customer demand has far surpassed its capacity.
The company is benefiting from growing customer demand as global peers, including Intel Corp and Micron Technology Inc, are withdrawing from the NOR chip market.
In the first quarter, Macronix saw its global ranking climb to No. 1, with a 26 percent market share, according to market researcher IHS.
Separately, DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said that its revenue climbed to NT$4.3 billion last month, up 2.47 percent from NT$4.19 billion in June and 32.14 percent from NT$3.25 billion a year earlier.
Shipments rose 1.6 percent from a month ago, while average selling price inched up 0.3 percent during the same period, the chipmaker said.
Market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) yesterday said that prices for PC DRAM chips rose 4.6 percent last month to US$24 per unit from a month ago, following a 10 percent sequential growth last quarter.
The researcher expects moderate price hikes in the second half as supply constraints might worsen during the peak season.
“The DRAM market in the second half of this year will be entering the busy season, with tight supply worsening due to temporary suspension of N2 (Fab-2) operated by Micron Technology Taiwan,” TrendForce analyst Avril Wu (吳雅婷) said in a report yesterday.
A malfunctioning gas equipment last month contaminated and disrupted production for two weeks, Wu said.
The production line suspension eliminated about 50,000 wafers from Micron Taiwan’s output last month, Wu said.
Unlike the other two chipmakers, MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest handset chipmaker, saw its revenue drop 13.36 percent to NT$18.97 billion last month from NT$21.89 billion in June.
On an annual basis, revenue fell 23.57 percent from NT$24.82 billion.
MediaTek expects revenue for this quarter to grow by 2 to 10 percent from last quarter to between NT$59.2 billion and NT$63.9 billion.
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