Macronix proceeds with 8-in.-wafer fab plans as business improves
By Macabe Keliher
Electronic Buyers' News
(03/07/00, 03:35:08 PM EDT)
Propelled by strong demand for flash memories and other chip products, Taiwan's Macronix International Co. Ltd. was back in the black last year after posting a loss in 1998.
Macronix, Taiwan's largest supplier of EPROMs, flash memories, and ROM chips, also announced that it would begin construction on a new 8-in. wafer-fab near its headquarters in Hsinchu.
The company this week reported a profit of $29.7 million on sales of $545 million, compared with a loss of $49 million on sales of $408 million in 1998.
Following a downturn in the semiconductor market in 1998, Macronix rebounded last year, due in part to strong demand for its products in the cell phone and set-top box markets, according to the company's president, Miin Wu. With continuing robust demand for its products so far in 2000, Macronix expects to post close to $1 billion in sales this year, Wu added.
Analysts were bullish about the company's prospects. "Due to burgeoning IC demand, we expect strong growth in 2000 for Macronix and Taiwan's other IC companies," said Milton Huang, an analyst at National Securities Co. Ltd., Taipei.
Separately , Macronix' board of directors have approved a plan build the company's third wafer fab. Dubbed Fab 3, the 8-in. plant will be capable of making 40,000 wafers a month. It is scheduled to go online by 2003 at a total cost of $1.3 billion.
The company's two existing facilities -- a 6-in.- and an 8-in-wafer fab -- are running at or near full capacity, the company said. |
