Taipei, Jan 19, 2026, 09:53 GMT+8 — The regular session is underway.
- Winbond (2344.TW) jumps almost 8% in early Taipei trading, reaching a peak of NT$117
- Morgan Stanley raised its target price for Winbond to NT$130, citing tighter supply in older memory chips
- Investors are focused on Micron’s $1.8 billion Taiwan fab project and Nanya’s earnings update set for Monday.
Taiwan’s Winbond Electronics Corp (2344.TW) shares jumped Monday amid renewed investor interest in the island’s memory chip sector. By 9:50 a.m. local time, Winbond was up 7.98% at NT$115.0, having hit a high of NT$117.0. Trading volume stood at roughly 25.4 million shares, down from 50.1 million in the previous session. (Yahoo Finance)
Morgan Stanley bumped its price target on Winbond to NT$130 from NT$88, signaling confidence in “legacy” memory like DDR3/DDR4 DRAM and NOR flash. The bank sees no reason to turn cautious here, citing tightening supply as more production shifts to high-bandwidth memory (HBM), used in AI accelerators. It also highlighted possible price increases for DDR4 and NOR flash in the first quarter. (UDN)
Winbond focuses on specialty DRAM and NOR flash, key components beyond the high-end AI hardware frenzy. This leaves its shares vulnerable to fluctuations in “ordinary” memory prices, which can spike when supply tightens and buyers scramble for inventory.
Sentiment got a boost after Micron Technology announced it signed a letter of intent to acquire Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing’s P5 fab in Tongluo, Taiwan, for $1.8 billion in cash. “Demand continues to outpace supply,” said Manish Bhatia, Micron’s executive vice president of global operations. The company expects the deal to close by calendar Q2 2026, with significant DRAM wafer production kicking off in the second half of 2027. (Micron Technology)
Powerchip shares jumped almost 10% on Monday following Micron’s announcement of the planned acquisition, fueling gains across Taiwan’s memory-related stocks early in the session. (Reuters)
But the rally carries risk: Taiwan’s exchange can impose “disposition” measures on volatile stocks — trading curbs that slow turnover and tighten margin requirements. Sometimes, this even shifts stocks from continuous trading to periodic call auctions. Over the weekend, Moore Investment Consulting analyst Lin Han-wei cautioned that memory shares have surged aggressively, advising investors to be wary of chasing gains if turnover spikes without prices moving higher. (Yahoo Finance)
Investors will be tracking if Winbond can maintain most of its early gains for the remainder of the session, and whether buying interest extends beyond the narrow group of memory stocks dominating volume. A cooling off or a fresh surge of limit-up moves might trigger a volatile finish.
Monday brings the next key event: Nanya Technology’s fourth-quarter earnings call, scheduled from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. online. Investors will zero in on updates regarding DDR4 demand and pricing, which may shift forecasts for Winbond. (Nanya)
