At the same time, the vendor’s figures highlighted its diversification into other non-core DRAM markets, designed to shield it from some of the notorious volatility of the memory market.
Micron has been battered over the last few years following the collapse in the PC market and in DRAM pricing after 2000. It has not reported a full year net profit since its fiscal 2000.
Yesterday, the Boise, Idaho-based vendor turned in net sales of $1.1bn for its third quarter, up 52.4% on the year. Operating profit was $109.7m, compared to last year’s $183.7m loss. Net income was $90.9m, compared to a $214.9m loss a year ago.
Average selling prices for memory products in the third quarter were 15% higher than the preceding quarter, and 45% higher than the same period last year.
Micro yesterday said its core DRAM business was benefiting from PC sales that have shown better than expected growth this year. It noted tight supply during the quarter. This will likely mean the transition to DDR2 memory will occur more gradually than expected over the course of this year, it said.
At the same time Micron said it was seeing market enthusiasm for its CMOS image sensors and was noticeably leading the industry with delivery of its pseudo SRAM devices. It expects to have a 4 megapixel imaging device in OEMs’ products for this year’s holiday buying season.
For the year to date, net sales were up 46% to $3.2bn. Operating profit so far stands at $124.3m, compared to a $1.1bn loss a year ago, while net income is $63.7m so far, compared to a $1.2bn loss a year ago.
