Talk about a rebound. Heading into this year, chipmakers were in trouble. Prices of benchmark dynamic random access memory (D-Ram) chips, which help power most computers, fell from a high of more than $6 in 2007 to just 85 cents in January. The slide, exacerbated by recession, pushed German chipmaker Qimonda into bankruptcy. Some Taiwanese rivals, beset by overcapacity – during the boom, the Taiwanese accounted for almost half of $23bn of global D-Ram capital spending – looked to be following close behind. Things got so bad that by March that Taipei uncorked a plan to consolidate the local industry, whose companies account for about a quarter of global supply.

But prices have since rallied more than three-fold since January, according to DRAMeXchange. Chipmakers have mothballed excess capacity. Demand is also perking up, as PC makers buy components ahead of an expected recovery in tech spending. Government-backedTaiwan Memory Company, launched to restructure the sector, has fallen quiet. Investors have returned; shares of local chipmakers such as Powerchip, Nanya and Inotera have risen 60-70 per cent from recent lows.