Winbond Electronics has reported net loss of NT$41 million (US$1.4 million) for the third quarter, compared to profit of NT$269 million in the prior quarter, with revenues sliding 7% on quarter.

Winbond saw its net profit for the first three quarters of 2011 shrink to NT$346 million from NT$3.52 billion a year ago, with revenues declining 10.9% to NT$21.5 billion.

Winbond disclosed that sales generated from its specialty DRAM (SDRAM) business slipped 2% sequentially in the third quarter, while sales of mobile RAM decreased by 40% on quarter affected by falling demand for pseudo RAM and products used in TV applications.

However, sales of NOR flash rose 9% sequentially in the third quarter, driven by strong orders for mobile phones, Winbond said. As a proportion of company revenues, flash memory sales expanded to 39% in the third quarter from 34% in the prior quarter and 28% a year ago.

Winbond added that the company expects to mass produce its NOR products made using 58nm process by the end of 2011.

Winbond holds a conservative view towards its business in the fourth quarter of 2011, citing the impact of global economic slowdown and the floods in Thailand. As a supplier of memory chips used in hard drives, Winbond expressed concerns that disrupted production at HDD clients would affect its sales in the fourth quarter.

Winbond estimated that revenues for the fourth quarter of 2011 are likely to suffer a sequential drop. In view of market uncertainties, the company stressed it will continue to improve its product mix with higher margins, and also enhance cost competitiveness by accelerating advanced technology migration.

Winbond revealed it currently has a monthly capacity of about 37,000 12-inch wafers - 24,000 units for niche-market DRAM and 13,000 for flash. In the third quarter, 90nm process accounted for 51% of company capacity followed by 65nm with 48% and 110nm with 1%.