Japanese memory maker Elpida IPO'd on the Tokyo stock exchange this morning, floating 32.6 per cent of the company.

The company also posted its first ever half-yearly profit on surging sales.

Elpida announced its intention to IPO last October, though it had been on the cards for some time. In June this year, company president Yukio Sakamoto said Elpida would consider a public offering to part-fund its fab expansion plan. The company hopes to grow its Hiroshima plant into the world's largest 300mm DRAM fab, at a cost of ¥500bn ($4.74bn) between now and 2007.

Elpida has been at the forefront of DDR 2 SDRAM production, having secured investment on the basis of its work from the likes of Intel and Kingston Technology. It's banking on growing demand for DDR 2 going forward.

World demand for DRAM is slowing, but Elpida's fab expansion plan should put it in a good position to capitalise upon growing demand if the market picks up again in 18-24 months' time, as many analysts forecast.

Indeed, the company today re-iterated its forecast that its current fiscal year, which ends on 31 March 2005, will see net income of around ¥21.6bn ($204.7m), up from the ¥26.9bn ($254.9m) loss it posted for the year to 31 March 2004.

Elpida is some way to achieving that target: today posted net income of ¥6.5bn ($61.6m) for the six months to 30 September 2004, up from a ¥17.6bn ($166.8m) loss in the year-ago half. Sales for the period reached ¥100.2bn ($949.4m), up from ¥41.4bn ($392.3m) a year ago. ®

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