DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp’s board of directors yesterday approved a proposal to boost this year’s capital expenditure to NT$55.74 billion (US$1.8 billion) to improve its manufacturing costs and broaden its product portfolio.

The investment, up 55 percent from the chipmaker’s original estimate of NT$35.9 billion, would help it ramp up production of 20-nanometer (nm) chips, Nanya said.

“The increase will help enhance the company’s profitability via improving manufacturing costs and product lineups, rather than expanding market share,” Nanya president Lee Pei-ing said.

The company also hopes the capacity expansion would help it cope with customer demand, Lee said.

Nanya Technology, which started trial runs of 20nm chips at the end of January, plans to commence mass production in the third quarter and reach full capacity of 38,000 wafers per month in the first half of next year, he said.

If the technology conversion from 30nm to 20nm chip production goes more smoothly than expected, Nanya said its output would only drop by a low-single-digit percentage this year, rather than its original forecast of a 10 percent decrease, he said.

To support the production boost, Nanya plans to add between 300 and 400 employees to its workforce of 2,600, he said.

The board also approved a proposal to distribute cash dividends of NT$1.5 per share, based on its earnings per share of NT$8.66 last year.

That implies a dividend yield of 3.2 percent based on the stock’s closing price of NT$46.55 yesterday.

By: DocMemory
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