TAIPEI – Taiwanese memory chip maker Nanya Technology said on Friday it plans to spend more than NT$200 billion ($6.2 billion) in capital investment next year, about four times this year, as demand for memory chips soars on the back of the AI boom.
President Lee Pei-yin told an online press conference that although the budget has not yet been approved by the board, preliminary spending plans are aimed at supporting increased spending on new factories.
Mr. Lee spoke after Nanya reported unaudited second-quarter sales of NT$82.55 billion, an increase of 684% year-on-year. The company’s net profit increased by 1,324% to NT$50.19 billion, and its gross profit margin improved to 79.5% from -20.6% in the same period last year.
Nanya, whose customers include Nvidia, Qualcomm and Google, expects to spend more than NT$50 billion this year, Lee said. He added that the total investment in the new factory will reach approximately NT$480 billion at full production capacity.
AI supports a stronger long-term outlook
The first phase of the new facility will have a wafer production capacity of 30,000 wafers per month in 2028, and will eventually expand to 45,000 wafers per month.
Lee said structural changes driven by artificial intelligence support a stronger long-term outlook for the memory industry, adding that the current supply shortage is expected to last for several more quarters.
Global memory manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are ramping up investment to meet the surge in AI-driven memory demand.
Commenting on South Korea’s efforts to expand semiconductor production, Lee said these efforts are positive for the industry’s broader ecosystem and reflect confidence in market demand. Nanya shares, which have a market capitalization of about $47 billion, were not traded on Friday as Taiwan’s stock market was closed due to the typhoon.
(1 dollar = 32.0680 Taiwan dollar)
(Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee; Editing by Jan Harvey)
