Japan's Elpida Memory has announced a net loss of 44.4 billion yen (US$470 million) for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, compared to a loss of 60.9 billion yen in the prior quarter. However, the loss still widened from a loss of 13.8 billion yen recorded a year ago.
Elpida's net sales for fiscal first-quarter 2009 grew 56% sequentially to 72.6 billion yen, according to the company. Premier DRAM (for smartphones, digital TVs and game consoles) accounted for about 40% of the sales, with the remaining taken up by its computing DRAM line (for servers and PCs).
"Higher PC DRAM prices and an improved product mix enabled the company's ASP to jump 27% on quarter, the first upward turn in two and a half years," Elpida said in a statement. With the ASP growth, Elpida saw bit shipment climb 12%, higher than its original estimate of single-digit growth. The company attributed the growth to increased demand for premier DRAM used in digital consumer electronics and mobile devices. Meanwhile, its migration to smaller process geometries at the Hiroshima Plant (Japan) and Rexchip Electronics, its manufacturing subsidiary in Taiwan, was also another contributing factor.
Citing DRAMeXchange, Elpida said that contract selling prices for 1Gb DDR2 SDRAM took an upward turn in the April-June quarter, while the average spot price was up more than 20% compared with the previous quarter. Also, demand for DDR3 SDRAM from PC OEMs has shown gradual gains, the chipmaker indicated.
Elpida has estimated bit shipment growth of 10% sequentially for the second quarter of its fiscal 2009. "An imbalance in supply and demand in the PC DRAM market can result in extreme price volatility, and also a precise forecast of future PC DRAM prices is quite difficult, Elpida is not presenting earnings forecasts," according to the company.
Elpida has maintained its capex budget at 40 billion yen for fiscal 2009 (ended March 31, 2010), compared to 88.6 billion yen allocated for fiscal 2008.
Source: Company, compiled by Digitimes, August 2009
Article translated by Jessie Shen
