Micron Technology landed itself in the red for the second quarter, posting a net loss.
The company, which makes DRAM and NAND flash memory, chips that provide the storage in mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, admitted to a loss of $286 million compared to the same time in 2011 when it reported a loss of $282 million.
However, its revenue rose to $2.1 billion from $2.0 billion a year ago.
In a statement, the company put down the losses to a range of factors including losing $120 million from changes in the market value of the company’s currency hedges. It said this was as a result of the company’s planned acquisition of bankrupt Elpida Memory, which it said it would be purchasing for $2.11 billion, and Rexchip Electronics.
More losses came as a result of a $62 million plunge associated with the expected sale of the company’s 200mm wafer fabrication facility in Avezzano, Italy, in the first half of calendar 2013.
Micron president Mark Adams said that the company’s 2013 outlook was better as a result of DRAM and NAND memory chips rising.
He said the company had sold more DRAM chips in the fiscal second quarter than in the previous quarter, and that it also improved its gross margins thanks to lower manufacturing costs.
Micron CEO Mark Durcan waded in, claiming the company was “pleased with the overall improvement” in its operational performance and “excited to see the effects” of its restructured partnership with Inotera drive bit shipment growth during the quarter.
“We believe the resultant increase in capacity from existing industry production will provide us the scale we need to reinforce our leadership position,” he said .
Revenues from sales of DRAM products in Q2 were 24 percent higher compared to the first quarter of 2013, due to a 38 percent increase in sales volume partially offset by a 10 percent decrease in average selling prices.
Revenues from sales of NAND products were eight percent higher in the second quarter of 2013 compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2013, primarily due to a 13 percent increase in trade NAND flash sales volume.
