Taiwan-based Phison Electronics, a supplier of memory device controller ICs, plans to hire more than 200 additional engineers in 2018 to further strengthen its R&D capabilities.

Phison is gearing up for chipmakers' migration to 3D NAND flash technology, said the company, adding that 64-layer 3D NAND flash will be the mainstream for 2018. Phison has rolled out high-speed UFS, eMMC and eMCP device controller chips supporting 3D NAND chips from multiple vendors including Toshiba and Micron Technology.

Phison is also looking to develop memory device controller chips supporting 96-layer 3D NAND flash chips at the end of 2018, the company continued. The upcoming new family of memory controllers will be targeted at handheld devices and automotive electronics applications.

Market watchers expect Phison to deal out a cash dividend of NT$16 for 2017. The company declined to comment on the figure which it plans to disclose later in March.

Phison reported net profits of NT$4.47 billion on consolidated revenues of NT$31.22 billion for the first three quarters of 2017. Net profits for the nine-month period were 34.5% up from a year earlier, but revenues fell 4.5% compared to the same period in 2016. EPS for the first three quarters of 2017 came to NT$22.69.