Mask ROM and NOR flash maker Macronix International Company (MXIC) has announced plans to hike monthly salary payments for its employees by 10% in 2010. It will also add 1,500 staff to its payroll in order to set up a 12-inch fab, as well as bringing in R&D talent to enhance the company's flash technology development capabilities.
Macronix reported revenues and profit growth for 2009, with EPS for the year reaching NT$1.74. Sales from NOR flash outpaced those from ROM products for the first time in 2009.
Macronix estimated the current sales ratio between NOR flash and mask ROM at 70:30. The company said it is looking beef up R&D manpower within its flash business.
The proportion of its NOR flash products fabricated at 110nm is expected to grow substantially in 2010 from around 10% last year, according to Macronix.
As for ROM, the 65nm node accounted for 33% of Macronix' mask ROM sales in the fourth quarter of 2009. The company noted it will be ready to trial produce 45nm-made ROM, when its new 12-inch fab comes online.
Along with rival Numonyx, Macronix has been one of the beneficiaries of Spansion's insolvency filing. According to iSuppli, Spansion was unseated by Numonyx in the second quarter of 2009, while Macronix enjoyed a 56.9% revenue growth sequentially in the quarter.
Spansion has said it expects to emerge from Chapter 11 protection in the first quarter of 2010.