Commenting on its figures (alongside) Boise, Idaho-based memory chip maker Micron Technology Inc said it was cautious about the future, despite a strong third quarter. The company, whose foundation and growth was financed by the proceeds of an empire built on the back of the humble potato, proudest export of Idaho state – creating high-tech chips from very low-tech ones, says it fears moves by some Korean companies to increase manufacturing capacity could hit future product pricing. It added that several companies have been increasing production of 16M-bit memory chips where Micron’s 16M part has yet to enter commercial production. And the threat of a rising dollar would add to the pressure of the company’s margins as users can get more chips to the buck when they buy from overseas manufacturers. As for the third quarter figures, the company says that the improved results reflected higher volumes of semiconductor memory sold. Improved manufacturing yield, principally for the Ministake version of the 4M-bit dynamic memory chip also resulted in significant volume increases in the quarter, Micron said. Net profit was improved by the continued reduction in the cost per unit.
