The officials from Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs have reportedly confirmed that ProMOS Technologies, a Taiwan-based maker of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), had asked the government for the bailout. The move emphasizes extremely tough situation the memory industry faces now amid global economic slump as well as the crisis on the market of DRAM.

ProMOS chairman Chen Min-liang said his company’s management is trying to find ways to keep developing ProMOS and Taiwanese DRAM industry, seriously considering governmental suggestions with an open mind, reports Taiwan Economic News. It is also claimed that ProMOS recently decided to dispose of “some 100 units” of 300” wafer testing machines and “a part stakes in its reinvested companies for cash” in an attempt to raise money for itself. The company reportedly suffered from $300 million in case by the end of Q3 2008.

According to the news-report, if ProMOS accepts bailout plan from the government, it will have to terminate its collaboration with Hynix Semiconductor and agree to work with Elpida Memory instead on the terms of technology-for-capacity. Potentially, this could mean that Taiwanese government wants to acquire control of ProMOS and then sell it to Elpida Memory.

Some experts, however, say that it makes more sense for all Taiwan-based DRAM makers to start development of own manufacturing technologies instead of licensing them from other companies.

According to DRAMeXchange, the spot price of DDR2 1Gb eTT memory chip has fallen to $0.6 per unit this week, which is a very low level.

Tags: ProMOS, Elpida, Hynix