Floods in Thailand, consumer confusion over the next best electronic device to buy and lack of a high-appeal PC product on the market are combining to keep Micron Technology Inc. memory chips from turning a profit for the chipmaker.

But the news isn’t all gloomy. The company is well structured with product diversity, is minding its pennies and is in good stead to weather the latest choppy waters in the volatile chip-making industry, said Mike Howard, a semiconductor analyst with IHS iSuppli and a former Micron employee.

Floods beginning last summer in Thailand inundated a lot of companies that make hard drives for personal computers and cut into Micron’s market for dynamic random access memory by about 15 percent, company officials said.

But even without the floods, DRAM memory demand was soft because consumers aren’t rushing to buy the latest PCs, Howard said.

“People are just keeping their PCs longer for whatever reason,” he said.

The chip market is also influx because consumers are uncertain about what to buy next: PCs, smartphones or tablets, Howard said. So their electronics dollars are diffused.

The coming of a new laptop from Intel, promised to be lightweight, turn on instantly and have a longer-lasting battery, could surge life into the DRAM market, analysts say.

The volume of DRAM chips at Micron was up 14 percent in the second quarter, but the average selling price dropped by 12 percent.

Revenue gains in the company’s NAND Flash memory were offset by a 10 percent drop in the average selling price, company officials said.

Micron no longer makes memory chips on its campus in Southeast Boise but still conducts most of its research and development here. The company is completing the expansion and remodeling of its Boise R&D operations. Treasure Valley residents think of Micron as a big company that still employs about 5,000 people, but it’s also a cutting-edge technology enterprise with sites, employees and partnerships across the globe.

Bill Roberts: 377-6408