Winbond Electronics, a manufacturer of niche-market DRAM and NOR flash, has announced that net profits for the second quarter of 2011 climbed 129% sequentially to NT$269 million (US$9.3 million). Consolidated revenues grew 4% on quarter to NT$7.42 billion.

The results, however, showed decreases compared to a year ago when the company reported net profits of NT$1.24 billion on revenues of NT$8.53 billion.

Winbond saw sales generated from its specialty DRAM (SDRAM) business slip 9% from a year earlier in the second quarter of 2011. But sales increased 18% compared to the prior quarter, thanks to rising revenues from products made with 65nm processing, according to the company.

Winbond is migrating to 46nm technology for its SDRAM products to further lower production costs, the company added.

Meanwhile, sales of NOR flash rose 11% sequentially in the second quarter, driven by new orders for mobile phones, Winbond said. The company has also sent samples of products made using 58nm process.

As a proportion of company revenues, flash memory sales climbed to 34% in the second quarter from 31% in the first quarter and 28% a year earlier.

Revenues generated from Winbond's mobile DRAM slid 10% sequentially in the second quarter, due to sluggish demand for handsets in the China market, the company said. Winbond's mobile DRAM products are targeted at feature phones, differing from other fellow DRAM companies' focus on smartphones and tablet PCs.

As for GDDR, the segment accounted for almost none of Winbond's revenues in the second quarter of 2011, compared to 4% in the first quarter and a larger 12% in the second quarter a year ago. Winbond contract manufactures GDDR chips for Japan's Elpida Memory.

Looking forward, Winbond expressed caution about the company's business outlook for the second half of 2011. Slowdown in the global economy has cast demand uncertainty, which will affect Winbond's sales performance, the company said. Meanwhile, the NT dollar's appreciation may erode profits, it added.

In addition, Winbond pointed out that oversupply has emerged for all memory segments due to slower-than-expected demand growth. ASPs for its products are facing downward adjustments in the second half of 2011, the company indicated.

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved