Taiwan-based Silicon Motion Technology, dedicated to supplying NAND flash controllers for SSDs and other solid state storage devices, expects its 2018 revenues from SSD controllers to surge 35% on year, higher than 30% estimated earlier, with the robust growth momentum likely to last into 2019, according to company president Wallace Kou.
Kou noted that his company's revenues for the third quarter of 2018 rose 9% on year to US$134 million, and its net earnings reached US$34.5 million or US$0.95 per ADS (American Depository Share), shooting up 68% on year.
Kou said that embedded storage solutions commanded 85% of Silicon Motion's total revenues for third-quarter 2018, with client SSD chipsets posting the highest sequential revenue growth of 35% and annual increase of nearly 80%. He attributed the robust growth to strong demand from the SSD market driven by the lingering declines in NAND flash prices.
In the third quarter of 2018, there were two leading NAND makers releasing PCIe NVMe client SSDs with QLC 3D NAND featuring Silicon Motion controllers, indicating the company's QLC 3D NAND controller technology has matured and won recognition from top NAND makers, according to Kou.
Silicon Motion can supply customers with a wide variety of controller solutions, ranging from those for high-performance SATA and PCIe drives to low-cost DRAM-less devices, Kou said.
Kou indicated that with the release of more 96-layer and QLC 3D NAND flash memory chips, NAND prices are expected to keep trending downward, further driving up market demand for SSDs to bolster the firm's client SSD controller business.
Article translated by Willis Ke
