Chartered Semiconductor Swings to Q2 Profit

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, the world’s third-largest contract chip maker, swung to a profit in the second quarter from a loss during the same time a year ago as it earned more from advanced chip production, the company said Friday.

The chip maker said its net profit rose to US$12.3 million, up from a loss of $67.1 million last year. Its revenue rose 79 percent to $364.8 million.

The company is benefiting from increased demand for its chip-manufacturing services, particularly in its advanced production technologies. About 50 percent of its revenue came from 0.13 micron or finer production technology, the company said.

Microns and nanometers are size measurements used to describe the smallest features that can be made on a chip. In general, the smaller the transistors and other parts on a chip are, the speedier the chip runs.

Although it was able to charge customers more for chips during the second quarter, its net profit figure dropped compared to the $25.3 million posted in the first three months of the year due to higher R&D costs as well as a worse product mix. Some chip products, such as certain communications and consumer electronics chips, are more lucrative than others.

The company added a few major new chip products to its lineup during the second quarter. It started shipping AMD64 microprocessors for Advanced Micro Devices and special chips for the Xbox 360 game console for Microsoft.

-Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service (Taipei Bureau)

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