Nanya Technology has announced it returned to profitability in the fourth quarter of 2009 following 10 consecutive quarterly losses.

Nanya said it will process more than 30,000 wafer starts a month on the 50nm node at its 12-inch fab starting in the second quarter of 2010.

Nanya reported revenues of NT$16.69 billion (US$523.4 million) for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, representing a 45% growth on quarter. The company generated net profits of NT$211 million in the fourth quarter, attributing its return to the black to a sequential 44% rise in DRAM ASPs.

Nanya slipped into losses in the second quarter of 2007, and remained unprofitable since. It managed to narrow net losses for third-quarter 2009 to NT$3.89 billion compared to losses of NT$6.54 billion for the previous quarter and losses of NT$8.77 billion in third-quarter 2008.

Nanya said its capex budget for 2010 remains unchanged at NT$19 billion, up from NT$14.6 billion allocated in 2009. The DRAM producer aims to convert all of its 12-inch chip production to 50nm and start ramping up its output of 2Gb DDR3 chips in the second quarter.

Nanya said 42nm will yield 50% more chips from a single wafer than 50nm technology. By moving to 40nm-class production, Nanya will be able to lower its overall production costs by 30%.

Capacity for DDR3 chips accounted for more than 30% of the combined production at Nanya and Inotera Memories at the end of fourth-quarter 2009, according to Nanya. The proportion is expected to exceed 50% in first-quarter 2010.

By: DocMemory
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