Supply of NOR flash memory is expected to remain tight in 2018, as demand will continue to outpace supply, according to Macronix International president CY Lu.

NOR flash demand will be driven by the growing adoption of AMOLED panels and TDDI (touch with display driver integration) chips among smartphones, as well as emerging IoT applications, said Lu.

Meanwhile, with US-based vendors phasing out low- and mid-capacity NOR flash products and putting increased focus on high-margin ones, the supply growth will still be unable to catch up with the demand growth in 2018, Lu indicated.

Macronix currently holds an about 26% share of the NOR flash memory market. The company is confident its market share for all of 2017 will reach 30%, with a long-term goal of topping 50%, Lu noted.

In addition, Macronix disclosed its board of directors has approved plans to budget an additional NT$1.785 billion (US$59 million) in capex for 2017, which has been revised to a total of NT$4 billion. The additional capex will be used to expand production capacity for mainly 55nm NOR flash memory.

Macronix will add an additional 4,800 12-inch wafers to production capacity for 55nm NOR flash at its 12-inch fab, which is also engaged in the manufacture of 36/19nm NAND flash and 3D NAND products. Macronix currently produces 20,000 wafers monthly at its 12-inch fab.