This too should help VSEA:
DRAM Manufacturers Expect Good Harvest Despite Sinking Prices
September 28, 2000 (TAIPEI) -- The spot price of 64Mb DRAMs fell below US$6 in Asia on Sept. 25 to between US$5.2 and US$5.7, its lowest level in 21 weeks.
Taiwan's DRAM manufacturers are expected to face an uphill battle to preserve their profitability in the fourth quarter, said an analyst. The continuous fall in the chip spot price is mainly due to disappointing growth in the sluggish PC and communication markets.
Top executives of leading local chipmakers Nanya Technology Corp., a microchip maker Mosel Vitelic Inc., Promos Technologies Inc. and Powerchip Semiconductor Corp., shrugged off pessimistic forecasts of DRAM industry sales and profits in the fourth quarter, confident that they can maintain their present encouraging performance. They noted that the October contract price of 64Mb DRAM held steady at US$7.5 to US$8, and believed that the tumble in the spot price would eat into their revenues less than the market analysts believe.
Winbond Electronics Corp., Mosel and Macronix International Corp. predict that their profits will reach NT$10 billion (NT$31.23 = US$1) by the end of the third quarter, which proved to be a boom season for DRAM sales. They refuse to be worried by the recent dive in the spot price of memory chips, and said they expect the price to bottom out around the end of October and thereafter begin to rise once more, reflecting the underlying health of the sector.
Although the recent fall in the 64Mb DRAM spot price has been an uncomfortable experience for local DRAM manufacturers, they remain confident that the outlook for the industry will improve in mid-October, after distributors use up their inventories and the recent spate of dumping comes to an end.
"Take my word for it, the slide in the spot price will soon be halted, as there is a greater demand for chips than we can presently supply," said a Mosel executive.
Related story: Contract Prices for 64Mb DRAM Microchips Set to Recover
(Commercial Times, Taiwan) |
