Taiwan-based NOR flash chipmakers Macronix International and Winbond Electronics have extended their market reach beyond consumer electronics, and consequently, the overlap between their products and major international players' will be increasing, industry sources have observed.
Macronix and Winbond have been aggressively developing their embedded NOR product lines applied to cars, handsets and ruggedized computers for industrial use, stepping into the market for higher-density NOR flash where Spansion and Micron Technology (formerly Numonyx) dominate, the sources learned.
Macronix and Winbond were primarily known for their low-density NOR chips targeting LCD TV, set-top box and other consumer electronics applications, as well as hard drives and other PC peripherals.
Macronix last week reported disappointing revenue results for the second quarter of 2011, however, sales of its NOR flash products increased 28% on quarter with shipments up 33%.
Winbond will hold a quarterly investors conference later this week to discuss its performance in the second quarter. The company in recent years transformed itself from a PC DRAM manufacturer to a niche-market DRAM and NOR flash producer.
In other news, Spansion CEO John Kispert remarked during a recent investors conference call that the core embedded business enjoyed sales growth of 12% on year in the second quarter of fiscal 2011. The segment accounted for 81% of company revenues in the quarter. Kispert said Spansion will maintain its embedded market share leadership, and continue to introduce new flash products in the second half of the year.