14 DAY TRIAL // The computer memory manufacturer and vendor company ProMOS Technologies is not discouraged by the losses suffered during the second quarter of the year as the company prepares its production lines to switch to the 70nm fabrication process. By the end of 2008, ProMOS is expecting to reach a monthly 125.000 12 inch wafers based on the 70nm process, according to a statement issued by the company and cited by the news site DigiTimes.
A net loss of $116 million was posted during the second quarter by ProMOS and the company said that the erosion of the end memory market, as well as low production output because of the transition to the 70nm fabrication process, have taken their toll. Despite past setbacks, a quarterly 30 percent growth is expected to take place, once the company reaches full productivity again, while the sales and shipments are projected to grow by 85 or 90 percent, versus the 80 or 85 percent growth expectancy.
ProMOS' vice president of sales and marketing Ben Tseng said that his company will begin full production using the 70nm process at its second 12 inch facility starting in September and that the monthly rate will reach 60.000 wafers. For the Fab 4 production plant that started upgrading its lines in August, there are projections that production using the 70nm process will reach 3000 wafers by September and grow to 15000 in November. According to Ben Tseng by the first months of 2008, Fab 4's total output is expected to climb to 25,000 12 inch wafers. A total production capacity of 125,000 wafers using the 70nm fabrication process is expected from the combined output of all ProMOS' production facilities and as the 70nm is more economical than the 90nm one, 30 percent savings are expected, too.
Fab 4 should break even after the first quarter of 2008 despite low overall DRAM prices as more and more users and system integrators are orienting themselves towards machines equipped with at least 1.5GB of RAM, more often than not even 2GB. As PC OEMs started depleting their over year inventories of computer memories, Ben Tseng is confident that the global demand for DRAM will grow and that this will have a benefic effect on ProMOS Technologies.