|
Taiwan
's Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. (PSC) and the Japanese Elpida Memory Inc.
signed an MOU in
Taipei
on December 7 to establish a joint facility in central
Taiwan
for DRAM production.
When the PSC-Elpida DRAM fabrication facilities -- to be located in the
Central Taiwan Science Park -- begins commercial operations, hopefully in four
to five years, the new joint venture will be the world's largest 12-inch chip
wafer foundry, with a total planned capacity of 240,000 wafers per month, said
PSC Chairman Frank Huang.
These new DRAM fabrication facilities, carrying a price tag of NT$450
billion (US$13.85 billion) , would also be the largest joint venture project in
Taiwan
in recent years involving domestic and foreign companies.
Huang said despite the efforts of
Singapore
and
China
to offer attractive packages for such a large-scale investment project, Elpida
decided to choose
Taiwan
as the joint venture's location and to tie up with PSC, reflecting the
importance that Elpida has attached to
Taiwan
's and PSC's competitiveness in terms of semiconductor manufacturing.
Also speaking at the MOU signing ceremony, Yukio Sakamoto, president and
CEO of Elpida, said PSC and Elpida – partners cooperating perfectly over the
past several years -- will strive together concertedly, envisaging a challenge
to the world's DRAM leader status in three years.
"Now it's time for us to make our move into PC DRAM production and
become the number one player in the DRAM industry, " said Sakamoto.
"We have decided to do so because we have gained credibility for our
advanced DDR2 SDRAM, which was backed up by the high productivity at our E300
fab in
Hiroshima
. Moreover, we are very confident in our 70nm process technology, soon to be in
mass production at our E300 fab. We are very happy to be able to transfer this
new technology to ramp up our new joint fab," He added.
He also noted that a combination of Elpida's state-of-the-art technology
and PSC's cost competitiveness in DRAM production will definitely translate into
outstanding production capabilities in this joint venture, supplying high
quality DRAM products at competitive prices.
(Source:
Central News Agency) | 