Taiwan's chipmakers shine brightest in living memory

Nikkei Asia · Staff Writer · 2026-11-05 08:32 UTC

The inside story on the Asia tech trends that matter, from Nikkei Asia and the Financial Times

Hi everyone from Cheng Ting-Fang, Annie, in Taipei!

This week, I had the chance to meet top executives from two Taiwanese memory chipmakers, Winbond Electronics and Macronix International, at what could be the brightest moment in their companies' histories amid an unprecedented global memory chip shortage. Business has rarely been better, with record earnings being reported, and gross margins of more than 70% for Macronix and Winbond in the July-September quarter.

While memory giants Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron, Kioxia, and China's ChangXin Memory Technologies compete fiercely for market share and manufacturing scale in the high-end AI memory sector, Winbond and Macronix have carved out their own niches in customized products and specialized needs. But despite blockbuster results similar to their larger rivals, both companies' share prices have nearly halved from their June peaks amid fears of oversupply and doubts about the AI boom's sustainability.

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