Shares of Winbond Electronics surged 9.8% to NT$179.50 after the Taiwanese memory chipmaker reported a quarter so strong it redraws the earnings map for the rest of the year. The results land amid a global DRAM shortage that shows no sign of easing — and a massive bet on new factory capacity that will test whether today's pricing power is structural or fleeting.
• A Blowout Quarter That Beat Even Bullish Forecasts
Q2 consolidated revenue hit NT$59.84 billion (~$1.9 billion), up 56.4% from Q1 and 184.7% year over year, with earnings per share of NT$5.40 — a new quarterly record.
The gross margin jumped to 66.2%, a 13-percentage-point leap from Q1, while operating margin reached 48.4%.
The memory division alone cleared a 70.3% gross margin at full capacity utilization.
Winbond beat analyst forecasts by 13.6% on EPS and 5.7% on revenue.
First-half cumulative EPS of NT$7.65 already surpasses most prior full-year results.
• July Revenue Signals No Slowdown Ahead
Both Winbond and rival Macronix posted record monthly revenue in July as tight supply and rising prices continued to lift profitability. July consolidated revenue rose 29.99% month over month and 291.55% year over year. Management expects Q3 operating margin to top 50%, setting yet another new high.
Winbond anticipates memory prices will rise further this quarter, after already soaring roughly 100% quarter over quarter in Q2.
• A Multi-Billion-Dollar Fab Bet on Lasting AI Demand
Winbond plans to begin expanding its Kaohsiung fab in January 2027, with pilot production targeted for late 2029 and an initial capacity of 10,000 12-inch wafers per month, scaling to 50,000.
The 2026 capital budget has been raised to NT$39.5 billion (~$1.2 billion), a 618% year-over-year surge.
To finance future phases, the company will require customers to sign three-to-five-year supply agreements, some with partial prepayment of construction costs — effectively asking buyers to co-invest in capacity.
• Valuation Is Pricing In a Long Upcycle — With Real Risks
One brokerage projects 2026 EPS at NT$24.85 with a NT$200 target price , while a more bullish house forecasts 2026 and 2027 EPS at NT$32.87 and NT$79.69, respectively.
CEO Chen Pei-ming warned that AI demand will make 2027 supply even tighter than 2026. But PC shipments could shrink 20–30% this year, though management says it can redirect capacity to higher-margin server and AI applications. At NT$179.50, the stock trades at roughly 7× the current annualized EPS run rate — cheap if the supercycle holds, expensive if memory prices mean-revert before the new fab ships wafers.