Cheng Ting-Fang, Tsubasa Suruga, Mitsuru Obe, Zijing Wu, Demetri Sevastopulo, Eleanor Olcott and Kohei Yamada report from Taipei that Taiwanese memory-chip makers Winbond Electronics and Macronix International are experiencing what could be the brightest moment in their companies’ histories amid an unprecedented global memory chip shortage.
Business has rarely been better, with record earnings and gross margins of more than 70 per cent for Macronix and Winbond in the July-September quarter. While memory giants Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron, Kioxia, and China’s Chang Xin Memory Technologies compete fiercely in the high-end AI memory sector, Winbond and Macronix have carved out niches in customised products and specialised needs.
Despite blockbuster results, both companies’ share prices have nearly halved from their June peaks amid fears of oversupply and doubts about the AI boom’s sustainability. Macronix founding chair Miin Wu said the company would focus more on specialised memory chips for industrial, automotive, space and medical applications. For Winbond, demand for specialised Nor flash memory has been particularly strong—“A single Nvidia Vera Rubin AI data centre rack needs some 600 of these chips,” said Winbond president Chen Pei-Ming.
Both firms face major headaches securing production tools. Winbond’s Chen said lead times for some equipment exceed two years, and construction of its new plant in Kaohsiung will begin in December, with limited capacity not expected until 2029 and a meaningful ramp-up not until 2030.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing