DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday reported that its revenue for the first quarter surged 582.91 percent to NT$49.09 billion (US$1.54 billion) from NT$7.19 billion a year earlier, as the supply crunch caused chip price spikes.
Last quarter’s figure is the highest on record.
On a quarterly basis, revenue jumped 63.14 percent from NT$30.09 billion, the company said.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
In January, Nanya Technology expected global DRAM supply scarcity to continue through the first half of 2028, thanks to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) forecast prices of standard DRAM chips would rise between 58 percent and 63 percent sequentially this quarter, after skyrocketing between 93 percent and 98 percent last quarter.
Memory companies have been raising prices for most chip categories and slashing the supply of DRAM chips used in PCs to hedge against the downside risks of weak PC shipments this year, TrendForce said in a report on Tuesday.
As companies such as Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc allocate more capacity for production of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips to catch up with strong AI server demand and are shifting toward more advanced DDR5 DRAM chips, it has led to a shortfall in the output of more conventional memory products and pushed up prices, the researcher said.
Nanya Technology benefits from the supply constraints in DDR4 DRAM chips, which are its core products.
Only about 10 percent of the company’s revenue came from DDR5 DRAM chips, it said.
Nanya Technology has started the construction of a 12-inch plant and increased capital spending for this year to NT$50 billion.
The new plant is expected to enter small-volume production in the middle of next year, it said.
Net profit in the first quarter could grow sequentially from NT$11.08 billion in the previous quarter, after the company earned NT$7.58 billion, or NT$2.45 per share, last month, Nanya Technology said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing.
The company is scheduled to disclose detailed financial figures and its business outlook during its April 13 earnings conference.
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