Taiwan-based DRAM chipmaker Rexchip Electronics has announced a net EPS of NT$4.27 (US$0.15) for 2010, outperforming other domestic peers including Powerchip Technology, Nanya Technology and Inotera Memories.
Rexchip swung to net profits of NT$12.58 billion in 2010 from losses of NT$2.37 billion in 2009. The profits garnered in 2010 were also sufficient enough to offset its combined losses of about NT$11 billion over the previous three years.
However, affected by plunging DRAM prices, Rexchip reported net losses of NT$1.82 billion in the last quarter of 2010. But the result was relatively insignificant compared to larger losses at Powerchip, Nanya and Inotera.
Powerchip registered net losses of over NT$8 billion in the fourth quarter, which eroded its total profits for 2010. Earnings totaled NT$12.2 billion in the first three quarters of 2010, but shrank to NT$3.9 billion for the whole year.
Nanya's net losses climbed to over NT$10 billion in the fourth quarter, bringing total losses for all of 2010 to NT$15.1 billion. Inotera's net losses amounted to NT$10.5 billion in 2010. The pair saw supply constrained due to a process transition from trench to stack technology in the first half of 2010, and suffered from chip price drops in the second half of the year.
Formed as a DRAM-manufacturing joint venture between Japan's Elpida Memory and Powerchip, Rexchip is now a 64%-held subsidiary of Elpida. Rexchip currently makes chips using Elpida's 40nm-class stack design with plans to move to 3Xnm in 2011.