Taiwan-based chipmaker Powerchip Technology has reported a net loss of NT$5.56 billion (US$18.9 million) for the first quarter of 2012, showing improvement compared to a loss of NT$8.87 billion in the prior quarter. EPS for the first quarter came to negative NT$1.

Compared to a year ago, however, Powerchip's first-quarter loss widened from the loss of NT$4.97 billion posted in the same quarter of 2011. First-quarter 2012 marked the company's fifth consecutive quarterly loss.

The stock of Powerchip has been downgraded by the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) to the category of full-cash delivery stocks as the firm's net value per share fails to meet the required NT$5 mark. As of the end of first-quarter 2012, Powerchip's net value per share stood at NT$0.90.

Powerchip might see its net value per share slip into the negative territory if the firm posts a larger loss in the second quarter, industry watchers have commented. The situation will have the company face delisting, the watchers indicated.

Formerly focused on the manufacture of commodity memory chips, Powerchip has diversified its business to include foundry services for non-memory products such as LCD driver ICs and CMOS image sensors. Powerchip has also moved to speed up its 30nm-class process transition to allow it to produce DRAM chips at lower costs.