Macronix, a major memory manufacturer, announced its financial report for the third quarter of 2025. Although revenue reached NT$8.2 billion, an improvement from the previous quarter and the same period in 2024, profitability faces severe challenges. In the third quarter, gross profit margin dropped significantly to 13%, and the company's net loss reached NT$862 million, with a loss of NT$0.47 per share. Macronix Chairman Wu Minqiu expressed "dissatisfaction" with the report card and apologized to investors.
Macronix’s third-quarter revenue was 8.214 billion yuan, an increase of 21% from the previous quarter and an increase of 6% from the same period in 2024. The gross profit margin was 13.5%, a decrease of 2.1 percentage points from the previous quarter and a decrease of 15.4 percentage points from the same period in 2024. Net loss after tax was 862 million yuan, a decrease of 32% from the previous quarter and an increase of 191% from the same period in 2024, with a loss of 0.47 yuan per share. Cumulatively, revenue in the first three quarters was 21.151 billion yuan, an increase of 6% from the same period in 2024, gross profit margin was 15.4%, a decrease of 11.2 percentage points from the same period in 2024; net loss after tax was 3.011 billion yuan, an increase of 81% from the same period in 2024, and loss per share was 1.62 yuan.
Macronix’s gross profit margin in the third quarter dropped significantly compared with 29% in the same period in 2024. Wu Minqiu pointed out that the main reason for the change in gross profit margin was the inventory depreciation loss (SBD) incurred when selling inventory products, which resulted in a decrease in gross profit margin of nearly 10.7%. In addition, exchange rate changes also caused a 4.7% impairment in gross profit margin. Compared with the second quarter, the difference in gross profit margin was mainly due to a 3.7% decrease in exchange rate factors.
Because the factory's capacity utilization rate is not optimal, it has indeed caused cost pressure on unused capacity. However, the company has performed well in terms of cost control, with operating expenses saving more than 12% in 2025 compared with 2024, but R&D investment is still the main part of operating expenses. However, despite operating losses, Macronix's cash flow position has improved. Due to active inventory removal, inventory has reversed depreciation losses of 134 million yuan this quarter, and inventory removal has also brought more net cash inflow from operating activities, making the cash flow from operating activities (CFO) positive, with an inflow of 1.9 billion yuan.
Faced with unsatisfactory performance, Wu Minqiu listed improving Macronix's profitability as the primary goal in 2026, especially the issue of factory efficiency. Wu Minqiu announced at the meeting that he had personally intervened to supervise the maintenance and production management of factory equipment. The company is currently reducing factory capacity usage to facilitate the slow release of inventory.
Macronix’s growth momentum is currently mainly concentrated in NAND Flash, especially in the low-density eMMC NAND field. As large competitors such as Samsung have withdrawn or shifted production capacity to higher-density products, Macronix has ushered in a huge market opportunity. Wu Minqiu revealed that the influx of customer demand in a short period of time was unprecedented. The company firmly believes that MMC will be able to fill a large amount of idle production capacity in 12-inch factories.
The current total NAND and MLC production capacity of Macronix’s 12-inch fab is approximately 12,000 pieces, and the existing products are sufficient to meet current market demand. Due to the substantial increase in demand, the capacity utilization rate of the 12-inch factory is close to 100%. Looking forward to the first half of 2026, the business prospects of NAND and eMMC are very positive. However, the company emphasized that it will not increase production capacity on a large scale for short-term market opportunities, and that production capacity planning will be consistent with the launch of new products in the future.
In terms of NOR Flash, its growth is currently mainly supported by server applications. However, there are uncertainties in the automotive market, mainly affected by competition from China's low-priced electric vehicles, which puts traditional European and American car manufacturers under operating pressure. Despite this, NOR Flash prices are expected to show a slight upward trend in the fourth quarter and the first quarter of next year.
In terms of ROM business, although the third quarter is the traditional peak season, revenue accounted for 26%. However, the overall market situation is slowing down, mainly because the old models of Nintendo Switch are gradually withdrawing from the market, new models have just begun, and related research and development work has not yet been completed. ROM's performance is expected to be roughly the same as this year, and growth will only gradually pick up after next year.
Macronix’s revenue structure shows that automotive, industrial control and medical care accounted for 37%, computers and data centers accounted for 30%, and consumer electronics accounted for only 7%. The company is also planning new product portfolios to cope with future trends such as AI through frequent communication with customers and suppliers, but the relevant details are not currently available to the public.