Formosa Advanced Technologies (FATC), a major packaging and testing service provider for DRAM makers Nanya Technology and Inotera Memories, saw revenues increase 10.2% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2009 slightly beating market watcher estimates.
FATC has announced revenues soared 51.2% on year to NT$2.72 billion (US$85.8 million) in the fourth quarter, bringing an end to a four-quarter streak of revenue declines. The memory backend supplier said demand for DDR3 chips has grown substantially since the quarter.
FATC's revenues still decreased in 2009. The company has reported revenues of NT$8.96 billion for the year, down 12.1% from 2008.
Rivals Powertech Technology (PTI), United Test and Assembly Center (UTAC) Taiwan and Walton Advanced Engineering are all estimated to see revenue growth of 5-10% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to market watchers.
In other news, the supply of DDR3 chips may fall short of demand in the first half of 2010 due to tight capacity at backend suppliers, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. Memory packaging and testing firms will not have new capacity for DDR3 chips until the middle or end of second-quarter 2010, as orders for high-speed testers were only placed in fourth-quarter 2009, the paper said.
Article translated by Jessie Shen
