(Taipei News) Winbond Electronics Corporation today announced that as a result of the board meeting convened on August 15, the Company has officially approved its CPA audited, first half year business revenue report. Overall revenue for the first half of 2000 was NT$ 21.26 billion, an increase of approximately 63.6 % when compared with NT$ 12.998 billion over the same period last year. The net profit, before tax, for the first half of this year was NT$4.24 billion, and increase of approximately 98.4 times when compared NT$42 million over the same period last year. The after tax net profit was NT$ 4.85 billion, an 6.4 times increase when compared with NT$ 659 million over the same period last year. The audited after tax profit per share was NT$1.37.
The driving forces behind Winbond's revenue growth for the first half of the year were increased pricing for IC products, rapid customer acceptance of new products, expanded production capacity and improvements in processing technology. Winbond expects that, worldwide, the semiconductor business will continue to experience strong growth. For the second half of the year, the Company's General IC Business Group expects to see increased demand mainly in its Flash, LCD driver IC, CD-ROM, DVD and IA-related products. Within the Company's DRAM Business Group, the effects of expanded production expansion will have taken hold by the end of the year. Both Fab 4 and Fab 5 will have transitioned to 0.175-micron processing technology by the fourth quarter of this year. It is expected that the combination of excellent market conditions and strategic operational improvements will drive Winbond's revenues to a new record high.
Winbond has made significant progress in its goal to become a major global player in the semiconductor market. The Company now is on par with leading IC companies in processing technology, and is extremely competitive on cost, delivery, quality and services. In April, Winbond announced an agreement with Toshiba for jointly developing new DRAM 0.13-micron trench dynamic memory technology and advanced 512 Mb DRAM production. Joint development alliances of such significance reflect both Winbond's enhanced competitive positioning in DRAM production technology and the Company's increasingly global role as a major player in the chip market. In May, Winbond announced another major joint technology development alliance; this time with Toshiba and Fujitsu for 0.13-micron advanced production technology development.
In the second half of the year, the Company's General IC Business Group will focus on further utilizing outside production capacity to meet increased product demand and improve R&D by developing additional market-oriented IC products for DVD, video phone and internet network applications. The Company's DRAM Business Group will expects to continue to improve processing technology and production yield.
Spokesperson
Wilson Wen
Vice President of Administrative Center
Tel：03-5792755
News Liaison
Mike Liu
Deputy Director
Tel：03-5792516
Email：ckliu@winbond.com