SAN FRANCISCO — Micron Technology Inc. posted a net loss of $52 million on sales of $1.43 billion for its fiscal second quarter, ended March 1, the company said Wednesday (April 4).

The $52 million net loss, which equates to 7 cents per share, compares to a net income of $115 million for the fiscal first quarter and $193 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2006. Revenue of $1.43 billion was down 7 percent sequentially but up 16 percent year-to-year.

Micron (Boise, Idaho) said memory market conditions in the fiscal second quarter led to significant declines in average selling prices (ASPs) for much of the company’s product portfolio. Decreases in the company’s costs of NAND flash memory products were eclipsed by a nearly 30 percent reduction in ASPs during the quarter, Micron said. Cost decreases for DRAM products approximated the decreases in ASPs, resulting in relatively stable gross margins for DRAM product, the company said.

Micron said sales of CMOS image sensors in the fiscal second quarter decreased sequentially due to weakness in the mobile handset market, increased competition and shifts in market mix towards lower value VGA-based camera phones.

"Notwithstanding current, challenging market conditions, the size of the markets for our semiconductor products continues to grow at an impressive rate," said Steve Appleton, Micron president, chairman and CEO, in a statement. "Our broad product portfolio, coupled with our expanded capacity, leaves us well positioned to leverage our investments in technology."

Micron's fiscal second quarter revenue of $1.43 billion came in slightly below consensus analyst expectations, which called for the company to post revenue of $1.46 billion. Analysts had forecast that Micron would post a smaller loss of about 1 cent per share for the quarter. Micron's share price closed at $12.07, down 1.31 percent in Nasdaq trading Wednesday, but gained in value in after-hours trading after executives reportedly said during a subsequent conference call that NAND and DRAM prices are stabilizing and that the company remains bullish on its prospects for the year.

Micron said it increased production of DRAM and NAND flash during the second quarter by 15 and 60 percent, respectively. As a result of higher levels of production, per megabit manufacturing costs for DRAM and NAND flash products decreased roughly 15 and 25 percent, respectively, the company said.

"We are pleased with the ramp of our NAND flash production at our Virginia and Utah facilities," said Micron Chief Operating Officer Mark Durcan. "Both operations are executing well and proving the production worthiness of our advanced NAND technology."