Macronix International Co (旺宏) was yesterday the most active stock on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, after the memorychip maker said it has secured a significant order for its new 19-nanometer single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash memory chips used in set-top boxes.
Some 88.59 million Macronix shares were traded yesterday, a sharp rise from 55.06 million on Thursday, data compiled by the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
Macronix’s share price has climbed 14.34 percent to NT$31.50 over the past month, outpacing the TAIEX’s rise of 1.99 percent.
“We began shipping the product to a US customer a few days ago, as the Christmas holiday season is just around the corner. The 19-nanometer SLC NAND is used in set-top boxes,” Macronix chairman Miin Wu (吳敏求) told reporters on Thursday.
“It was our first 19-nanometer SLC NAND order,” he added.
Customers tend to opt for 4-gigabyte SLC NAND flash memory chips to cope with the increasingly complex systems installed in set-top boxes, which require more memory, Wu said.
With more providers offering ultra-high-definition 4K or 8K content, Macronix expects consumer electronics devices to be equipped with more memory, he said.
Macronix has budgeted NT$14 billion (US$451 million) in capital spending this year for technological upgrades, including converting NAND flash memory chip production from 36-nanometer process to 19-nanometer.
Apart from that, Macronix expects to complete development of its first 3D NAND flash memory chip in 2021, Wu said.
The prices of NAND flash, NOR flash memory chips and ROM chips have stabilized this quarter, he said, but it is unclear whether prices would pick up any time soon.
Macronix mainly supplies ROM chips to Japan’s Nintendo Co.
Chip prices have been on a downward spiral since the third quarter of last year amid sluggish demand, partly due to a trade dispute between the US and China, the memorychip maker said.
Asked whether an improved pricing environment would help Macronix’s revenue grow 30 percent sequentially this quarter as some analysts have forecast, Wu declined to comment.
The third quarter is usually peak season for Macronix, with shipments increasing from the previous quarter, he said.
Seasonal demand has helped boost the utilization of its 12-inch fab to almost 100 percent, Wu said.
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