Macronix International, a Taiwan-based maker of NOR flash and mask ROM, saw net operating loss increase from NT$786 million (US$26.3 million) in the first quarter of 2012 to NT$1.208 billion for in second quarter, the company disclosed at an investors conference on July 27.

Macronix also saw gross margin slip from 14.13% in the first quarter to 10.86% in the second. The sequential decrease in profitability was mainly because utilization of production capacity at its 12-inch fab dropped to 57.8% and prices for NOR flash fell by 13% in the second quarter, Macronix said.

Macronix posted revenues of NT$5.801 billion, net loss of NT$1.389 billion and net loss per share of NT$0.39 for the second quarter.

Of the revenues, 61% came from NOR flash, 27% from ROM and 12% from foundry services, Macronix indicated. Among processes, 0.11-micron accounted for 58% of revenues, 65nm for 26%, 75nm for 5%, 0.13-micron for 3% and 0.15-micron and above for 8%, with overall capacity utilization standing at 84%.

Macronix has taped out 128Mb parallel NOR flash based on 55nm technology and will start volume production of 75nm-based 512Mb serial NOR flash in the third quarter of 2012, with 75nm to become the mainstream process for NOR flash in the second half of 2012, the company indicated. For ROM production, 65nm process accounted for 85% of ROM revenues in the second quarter and 45nm-based 32Gb commercial ROM chips have been under certification, Macronix said, adding 45nm will become the mainstream technology for ROM in the second half of 2012.