ProMOS, which is in talks to partner state-owned Taiwan Memory Co. to make chips, climbed 6.7 percent to NT$1.92, its highest since Jan. 14. Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. advanced 5 percent to NT$3.39, the highest since Sept. 8. The benchmark Taiex index lost 0.4 percent as of 11:19 a.m.

“Chip companies shares are higher today because of the rising contract prices,” said Liway Chen, an analyst at Polaris Securities Co., who rates Taiwan DRAM companies “equalweight.”

The benchmark price of DRAM chips, which temporarily hold data and help computer processors run multiple programs simultaneously, gained 8.8 percent to $2.34 on Oct. 9 from a day earlier, and jumped 12.5 percent last week, the most since April. The prices surged on speculation Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system, which debuts on Oct. 22, will boost demand, according to Chen. “After this wave of price hikes, the upward momentum may slow down,” he said.

Morgan Stanley said in a report on Sept. 21 that the computer-memory industry’s three-year slump is over and chipmakers may see a recovery that may last two years.

Prices of DRAM tumbled to a record low in December, according to Dramexchange Technology Inc., operator of Asia’s biggest spot market for semiconductors. The slump began after companies overestimated the demand that Microsoft’s previous Windows Vista operating system would create, prompting semiconductor makers to boost production by 90 percent in 2007, according to Morgan Stanley.

By: DocMemory
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