Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the nation’s biggest computer DRAM chipmaker, expects prices to grow by a double-digit percentage next quarter, boosted by back-to-school demand and corporate PC replacement demand, a company executive said yesterday.
Nanya Technology vice president Pai Pei-lin (白培霖) attributed recent price declines, which could extend into next month, to inventory digestion as rising crude oil prices and a lackluster housing market in the US dampened computer demand.
“There are many tablets coming on the market in the second -quarter, which, to some extent, has cannibalized the notebook computer market,” Pai said.
Nanya Technology saw revenues last month fall 12 percent from April to NT$3.92 billion (US$136 million), but Pai said the company had begun seeing signs of an industry upturn.
“We are seeing back-to-school demand. We are seeing continuing corporate PC replacement demand ... and limited chip supply. We are positive about the [demand] in the second half,” he said.
Based on the chipmaker’s observation, tablet devices — primarily Apple Inc’s iPad — would not fully replace laptops because the new device does not support Microsoft Office, which some -users and managers need on the job.
Pai added that the company had made significant progress in diversifying into non-PC memory chips.
Last month, revenues from specialty DRAM chips used in televisions, set-top boxes and servers accounted for 40 percent of overall revenues, he said.
Earlier this year, Nanya Technology set a target of growing non-PC DRAM revenues to account for half of the company’s total revenues by the end of this year.
Pai made the remarks after the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Nanya Technology last year saw its losses shrink to NT$15.13 billion, from NT$20.75 billion in 2009.
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