TAIPEI: Macronix International Co posted yesterday a quarterly loss of NT$1.22 billion (US$38.79 million) due to lack of asset gains, but the chipmaker said it still aims to end 14 quarters of losses this quarter on the back of seasonal demand and cost reductions.
“We still hope to break even in the third quarter,” Macronix president Lu Chih-yuan told a teleconference, citing growing uptake of high-density memory chips this quarter.
Lu said continued inventory adjustments in the semiconductor industry pose uncertainty over the firm’s turnaround expectations.
Macronix has made losses since the first quarter of 2012 because of an industry slump and heavy depreciation payments on a new factory.
A non-operating loss of NT$46 million caused the company’s net losses last quarter to widen from NT$355 million in the first quarter, the company said.
In the same period last year, the company posted net losses of NT$1.79 billion.
Gross margin stood at 12 percent last quarter, compared with 6 percent a year earlier.
Macronix said it is pinning its hopes on a turnaround on expanding shipments of advanced NOR Flash memory chips for automobiles and wearable devices, as well as falling depreciation payments.
NOR Flash is the firm’s biggest revenue source, accounting for 66 percent last quarter.
The chipmaker said it expects its depreciation payments to decline 25 percent from last year’s NT$7.74 billion to NT$5.8 billion.
Macronix also expects shipments of it new NAND Flash memory chips to nearly double this quarter from last quarter, Lu said.
Macronix started offering NAND Flash in the first quarter.
Lu said gross margin of the new chip improved rapidly and would soon catch up with NOR Flash.
Lu dismissed market speculation that Macronix was approached by Chinese firms seeking an acquisition, saying that the firm was not in talks with any Chinese companies.
He said the company’s partnership with Japanese game console maker Nintendo Co would not be affected by the Japanese firm’s management shake-up after chief executive Satoru Iwata died on Saturday last week.
