Memory module supplier Adata Technology Co (威剛科技) yesterday said that contract prices for NAND flash memory are expected to rebound this quarter, following an uptrend in DRAM prices.
However, supply constraints would carry into next quarter, as recovering demand from automakers adds pressure to an industry beset by strong demand for notebook computers, smartphones and data centers, Adata said.
DRAM prices are expected to climb steadily after a trough at the beginning of December last year, with more marked hikes next quarter, Adata chairman Simon Chen (陳立白) said.
Photo: CNA
A severe supply crunch is expected in the second half of this year, Chen said.
The company, which is based in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店), said that it has built at least two months of DRAM chip inventory for its own use.
Adata’s financial performance this quarter would be significantly better than last quarter, Chen said.
Higher shipments of solid-state drives (SSD) have helped, he said.
The company’s revenue for last month grew 12.27 percent to NT$2.81 billion (US$99.41 million), compared with NT$2.5 billion in February last year, aided by a rise in DRAM prices and improved demand for NAND memory chips for SSD storage, Adata said in a statement.
On a monthly basis, revenue fell 4 percent from NT$2.93 billion.
DRAM products accounted for about 40 percent of the company’s total revenue last month, SSD products contributed 42 percent, and memory cards, flash drives and other items made up 16 percent, it said.
“Since the beginning of this year, customers have been placing orders aggressively,” Adata said. “Employees worked overtime during the Lunar New Year holiday to satisfy demand.”
The company said that it is bullish about this year’s business outlook, citing robust demand.
In the first two months of this year, revenue jumped 32.26 percent to NT$5.74 billion from NT$4.34 billion in the same period last year.
DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) on Wednesday reported that last month’s revenue was its highest in 28 months, driven by higher prices.
Revenue rose 26.91 percent to NT$5.79 billion, from NT$4.56 billion in February last year, and grew 4.68 percent from NT$5.53 billion in January, Nanya said.
Nanya president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) in January said that he expected a DRAM price uptrend to continue throughout the first half of this year, and it might extend into the second half as the COVID-19 pandemic-driven stay-at-home economy, as well as a chip shortage, boosts DRAM consumption for notebook computers, tablets, networking devices and game consoles.
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
RESHAPING COMMERCE: Major industrialized economies accepted 15 percent duties on their products, while charges on items from Mexico, Canada and China are even bigger US President Donald Trump has unveiled a slew of new tariffs that boosted the average US rate on goods from across the world, forging ahead with his turbulent effort to reshape international commerce. The baseline rates for many trading partners remain unchanged at 10 percent from the duties Trump imposed in April, easing the worst fears of investors after the president had previously said they could double. Yet his move to raise tariffs on some Canadian goods to 35 percent threatens to inject fresh tensions into an already strained relationship, while nations such as Switzerland and New Zealand also saw increased