Fiscal 2006 sales totaled US$4 billion, more than doubling sales from the previous year. Operating profits totaled  US$577 million), also a record high, and pushing Elpida's profit margin up to 14 percent.

Capacity expansion, based on total bits shipped last year, grew more than 2.5 times (168 percent). An Elpida spokeswoman cited the figures as the underlying reason for it explosive sales expansion. (Elpida calculates product shipments in bits, regardless of product types such as 512-Mbit or 1-Gbit DRAMs.)

Elpida's boosted monthly capacity at the end of March at its main fab in Hiroshima to 78,000 300-mm wafers. Supplier Power Chip Semiconductors also helped boost Elpida's 2006 bit growth.

Elpida has emphasized production of DRAMs used in mobile and digital consumer electronics. 

Sales of commodity DRAMs, mainly for PCs, grew 3.5 times over the previous year to $1.98 billion.

By: DocMemory
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