Taiwanese memory chipmaker Nanya Technology said on Friday it plans capital spending of more than T$200 billion ($6.2 billion) next year, roughly four times this year's figure, amid soaring demand for memory chips as it rides an AI boom.
President Pei-Ing Lee told an online press briefing that the preliminary expenditure plan aims to help ramp up spending on a new plant, although the budget has yet to receive board approval. Lee was speaking after Nanya reported unaudited second-quarter revenue of T$82.55 billion, up 684% from a year earlier.
The company's net income surged 1,324% to T$50.19 billion, while gross margin improved to 79.5% from a negative 20.6% a year earlier. Nanya, whose customers include Nvidia, Qualcomm and Google, expects to spend more than T$50 billion this year, Lee said. Total investment in the new plant will reach about T$480 billion at full production capacity, he added.
AI understanding stronger long-term outlook:
The first phase of the new plant is scheduled to reach capacity of 30,000 wafers per month in 2028, eventually expanding to 45,000 wafers per month.
Lee said structural changes driven by artificial intelligence were supporting a stronger long-term outlook for the memory industry, adding that the current supply shortage was expected to persist for several more quarters.
Global memory makers, including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, are ramping up investment to meet surging AI-driven memory demand.
Commenting on South Korea's push to expand semiconductor production, Lee said such efforts were positive for the industry's broader ecosystem and reflected confidence in market demand. Shares in Nanya, which has a market value of around $47 billion, were not trading on Friday as Taiwan's stock market was closed due to a typhoon.
($1 = 32.0680 Taiwan dollars) (Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee; Editing by Jan Harvey)
