Memory maker Nanya has slashed its 2001 profit forecast, transforming with a stroke of its red pen a NT$2.3 billion ($66.53 million) profit into a NT$5.86 billion loss.

The reason? The crash in memory prices. Nanya reckons DRAM prices will begin to recover this month and start to increase through the rest of the year. But not enough to compensate the company for the losses it has incurred during the first half of 2001.

The current quarter will generate a loss, too. Nanya reckons it will lose NT$2.15 billion this quarter. It should be back in the black in Q4.

In the meantime, the company will maintain its investment and production capacity expansion programmes. Nanya is shifting to a 0.14 micron process through the rest of the year, and still plans to begin work on a 300mm wafer fab next March. This year it expects to grow 128Mb production to 174 million chips (up from its previous forecast of 129 million parts). Next year it reckons it will punch out 320 million 128Mb parts. ®