DRAM glut turns Toshiba profits into loss

Toshiba is the latest of the Japanese giants to show acute signs of discomfort from the slump in DRAM prices. The company today sharply revised its forecast for the current financial year and has now said it will make a loss of five billion yen, compared to an earlier forecast profit of $10 billion yen. In a statement, the company said: "The revisions reflect sharper price erosion in 64-Mbit DRAMs and other key semiconductor devices than it anticipated in the original forecasts." Other reasons for the sharp revision cited were sluggish demand for chips due to the Asian economic crisis and price drops in PC components including LCDs, CRTs and other peripherals it manufactures. It said that in the first half of 1998 that it has made a loss of 25 billion yen, compared to a previously anticipated profit of 40 billion yen. ®