DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (Äρ†¿Æ¼¼) yesterday posted a slight increase in revenue for last quarter on recovering demand, beating the company¡¯s expectation of a 5 percent sequential decline.

That bodes well for the company¡¯s business outlook for the current quarter.

¡°The average selling price decline is much milder than we thought in the first quarter. Overall the [industry] environment is not as bad as we expected,¡± Nanya spokesman Joseph Wu (…ÇÖ¾Ïé) said.

Revenue last month fell at a slower rate of 1.2 percent to NT$3.3 billion (US$101.89 million), from NT$3.34 billion in February, when revenue dropped about 11 percent sequentially.

Shipments last month grew 3 percent month-on-month, while the average selling price dropped 2.5 percent from a month earlier, Nanya Technology said.

Appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar eroded about 1.5 percent of the chipmaker¡¯s revenue last month, it said.

During the quarter ending March 31, revenue inched up about 0.5 percent to NT$10.35 billion, compared with NT$10.34 billion in the final quarter last year.

¡°We still see [chip] prices under pressure, but now we are much more optimistic about the second quarter and the second half of this year [in terms of supply and demand],¡± Wu said.

Nanya president Lee Pei-ing (ÀîÅàçø) said he expected renewed demand from China and emerging markets would help alleviate pressure on average selling prices and help shrink revenue decline to a single-digit percentage sequentially for last quarter.

Inotera Memories Inc (ÈA†¿Æ¼¼), a DRAM manufacturer that is 24 percent owned by Nanya, yesterday said revenue jumped 10.8 percent from NT$3.46 billion in February to NT$3.84 billion last month.

In the period from January to last month, revenue plunged 40.74 percent to NT$10.93 billion, compared with NT$18.45 billion in the same period last year.

Nanya has agreed to sell all of its stake in Inotera to US memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc for about NT$47.6 billion. The transaction is expected to be completed in the middle of this year.

The Taoyuan-based firm also agreed to spend NT$31.5 billion on subscribing an unspecified amount of Micron shares later this year.

Separately, United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, “ëŠ), the nation¡¯s second-largest contract chipmaker, yesterday posted a 36.29 percent spike in revenue from NT$9.48 billion in February to NT$12.92 billion last month.

That brought the chipmaker¡¯s revenue last quarter to NT$34.4 billion, up 1.62 percent from NT$33.85 billion in the fourth quarter last year. On an annual basis, revenue contracted 8.62 percent from NT$37.65 billion.

The results are better than UMC¡¯s forecast of a flattish revenue for last quarter on expectations that business was hitting the bottom after most customers¡¯ inventories had returned to reasonable levels.

UMC chief executive officer Yen Po-wen (©ÎÄ) told investors in January that ¡°we expect our foundry revenue to remain flat [in the first quarter]. UMC is optimistic on the growth outlook for the foundry industry, led by communication and consumer products.¡±

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