ProMOS Technologies has revealed plans to downsize its capital by 65% from the current NT$72.6 billion (US$2.3 billion) to NT$25.4 billion. The capital reduction will help boost ProMOS's share price to NT$8.45, allowing the DRAM maker to resume trading under normal conditions on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE).
ProMOS has fallen into the full-cash delivery stock category since February 19, 2009 due to failure to settle its ECB issues on schedule.
ProMOS also said it will raise capital through rights issue or private placement later this year, when its share price rebounds to above NT$10.
ProMOS noted it is considering issuing up to 700 million new shares through private placement, or up to one billion shares via a rights issue. The company said it aims to bring in strategic partners.
The memory chipmaker said it is likely to post net profits in the second quarter of 2010 after losing money in the preceding 12 quarters. Revenues from its core business were close to the break-even level in March, the company added.
After selling its manufacturing site at the Hsinchu Science Park (HSP), ProMOS said its major production site at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) only houses 12-inch production lines with monthly output capable of reaching 130,000 wafers. New equipment will be required in order to run at full capacity, the company added.
ProMOS is expected to process around 50,000 wafer starts in April, and the output will be scaled up to 60,000 in May, according to the company.
In other news, ProMOS has said it looks to start mass production on Elpida Memory's 63nm process in the third quarter of 2010. It also revealed plans to allocate half of its capacity to commodity DRAM and the remainder to mobile RAM and specialty DRAM (SDRAM) parts starting in 2011, and will be working closely with the Japan-based technology partner.