Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), the world’s biggest supplier of NOR flash memory chips, yesterday said that revenue this quarter would fall further from last quarter’s NT$7.28 billion (US$225.3 million), as customers digest inventory toward the end of this year.
Amid a slump in customer demand, Macronix slashed capital expenditure for this year by about 12 percent to NT$7.9 billion from an estimate of NT$9 billion it made three months ago.
The spending would be even lower next year as the company said it would halt capacity expansion and focus on depleting its inventory.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
Next year, factory utilization and inventory are forecast to remain at similar levels as this year, Macronix chairman Miin Wu (吳敏求) told an online investors’ conference.
The company does not expect to see a significant pickup next year, Wu added.
“If there is any, it would arrive in the second half of next year,” he said.
The company reported a net loss of NT$408 million last quarter, following a net profit of NT$71 million in the previous quarter. During the first three quarters of this year, Macronix lost NT$692 million, which translated into losses per share of NT$0.37.
Gross margin fell to 25.9 percent in the first nine months, compared with 46.9 percent in the same period last year, as the chipmaker cut 25 percent of its factory utilization to cope with sluggish demand.
The company also booked losses on inventory valuation totaling NT$2.26 billion during the first nine months of this year, and expects to book more inventory losses this quarter, as demand remains weak.
“This year is a very bearish year in terms of market demand. We are seeing many customers digesting inventory at a very slow pace, particular customers from China and Japan,” Wu said.
By product, demand for ROM chips, primarily from Japan’s Nintendo Co, would be slow this quarter as some game titles are likely to hit the market in the first quarter of next year, Wu said.
The ROM business accounted for 38 percent of Macronix’s total revenue last quarter.
Demand for NOR flash memory chips would be stable this quarter and those used in vehicles would continue to grow, he said, adding that the company has seen early signs of a rebound.
The auto segment last quarter overtook the computer segment as the biggest NOR flash memory chip revenue contributor, the company said.
Overall, NOR flash memory chips accounted for 50 percent of Macronix’s revenue last quarter, it said.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it is teaming up with Nvidia Corp to develop a new chip for artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers that uses architecture licensed from Arm Holdings PLC. The new product is targeting AI researchers, data scientists and students rather than the mass PC market, the company said. The announcement comes as MediaTek makes efforts to add AI capabilities to its Dimensity chips for smartphones and tablets, Genio family for the Internet of Things devices, Pentonic series of smart TVs, Kompanio line of Arm-based Chromebooks, along with the Dimensity auto platform for vehicles. MeidaTek, the world’s largest chip designer for smartphones
TECH PULL: Electronics heavyweights also attracted strong buying ahead of the CES, analysts said. Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed amid Trump’s incoming presidency Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares yesterday closed at a new high in the wake of a rally among tech stocks on Wall Street on Friday, moving the TAIEX sharply higher by more than 600 points. TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the TAIEX, rose 4.65 percent to close at a new high of NT$1,125, boosting its market value to NT$29.17 trillion (US$888 billion) and contributing about 400 points to the TAIEX’s rise. The TAIEX ended up 639.41 points, or 2.79 percent, at 23,547.71. Turnover totaled NT$406.478 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The surge in TSMC follows a positive performance
RSS