Winbond Electronics posted a net loss of NT$1.31 billion ($41 million) in the second quarter, deepening losses as the memory chip specialist struggled with weak pricing despite maintaining its position as the world’s top NOR flash supplier.
The Taiwanese company reported consolidated revenue of NT$21.02 billion ($657 million) for the quarter, down 2.2% from a year earlier. Gross margin stood at 22.7%, while earnings per share hit -0.29 NT$, reflecting persistent headwinds in the commodity memory market.
For the first half of 2025, Winbond’s losses widened significantly with net deficit attributable to shareholders reaching NT$2.40 billion ($75 million), compared to a profit of NT$1.36 billion ($43 million) in the same period last year. The dramatic reversal underscores the cyclical nature of the memory business despite broader industry optimism about recovery.
The company’s product portfolio showed mixed performance, with logic products accounting for 37% of quarterly revenue and flash memory contributing 34%. Custom memory solutions represented 27% of sales, with the company citing increasing contributions from its 20-nanometer production.
Automotive and industrial applications emerged as the strongest growth driver, rising 23% sequentially, while consumer electronics gained 18%. However, these sequential improvements couldn’t offset year-over-year declines.
Winbond expects memory pricing to stabilize in the second half, with NOR flash supply and demand reaching balance and prices rising modestly. The company anticipates tighter supply conditions for single-layer-cell NAND memory will drive continued price increases, while legacy DRAM pricing should benefit from supply constraints.
Looking ahead, Winbond projects its CUBE technology—designed to stack logic chips on memory—will begin contributing meaningfully to revenue in 2027 as edge AI applications gain traction. The company plans capital expenditures of NT$4.8 billion ($150 million) for 2025, with 70% allocated to production equipment.
