DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (“옱‰È‹Z) yesterday said net profit surged last quarter from the previous quarter thanks to robust demand and asset gains.

Net profit reached NT$1.4 billion (US$44.36 million) from NT$397 million in the second quarter, a Nanya financial statement showed.

On an annual basis, net profit plunged more than 70 percent from NT$4.73 billion as prices tumbled due to oversupply.

Earnings per share were NT$0.51 last quarter, compared with NT$0.14 in the previous quarter, the statement showed.

Nanya said that a gain of NT$215 million from Inotera Memories Inc (‰Ø˜±‰È‹Z) was behind the quarterly improvement.

Inotera, which is 24 percent owned by Nanya, contributed losses of NT$457 million to Nanya in the second quarter. Inotera swung into a net profit of NT$886 million last quarter from losses of NT$1.89 billion in the second quarter.

Nanya gross margin improved to 31.1 percent last quarter from 28.4 percent in the prior quarter, benefiting from a slower price decline of 2 percent quarterly, the company said.

Nanya said it expects strong demand to boost average DRAM prices this quarter by 5 percent from the previous quarter, with the fastest price hikes for PC DRAM chips.

gWe expect supply constraint to be more severe in the fourth quarter, as DRAM chip demand will increase from the third quarter,h Nanya president Lee Pei-ing (—›”|‰l) told a media briefing.

gThe chip shortage will be across the board, from DRAM chips used in PCs, mobile phones, to those for servers,h Lee said.

Lee said Nanyafs shipments would be flattish this quarter from last quarter because of capacity constraint, while global supply would see limited growth.

In addition to improving fundamentals, Nanyafs bottom line this quarter will be significantly lifted by an asset disposal gain of about NT$19.9 billion from selling its stake in Inotera to US firm Micron Technology Inc, according to a Nanya estimate.

Micron, which owns 33 percent of Inotera, expects to complete a NT$132.5 billion acquisition deal on Dec. 6, making Inotera a fully owned subsidiary.

Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (Œ³‘å“ŠŒÚ) analyst George Chang (’£‰Æêi) yesterday said in a client note that the memory industry has seen a strong price rebound this year because of discipline on the supply side.

gThe discipline of DRAM supply appears to be a structural trend... Of course, industry consolidation is also on the right track,h Chang wrote.

gThe closing of the Micron-Inotera deal should help ease market concerns that Micron will seek capacity expansion in China,h Chang wrote.

Meanwhile, Nanya said it plans to spend NT$25.25 billion on new facilities and equipment this year.

Most of the budget will go toward the production of next-generation 20-nanometer (nm) chips, Nanya said.

The company is scheduled to ram up production of 20nm chips in the second half of next year, it said.

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