Elpida May Form Venture with Powerchip

by Anton Shilov
09/13/2006 | 11:55 PM

Elpida Memory, the world’s fifth largest producer of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), may be looking for its production capacity expansion via ventures with other players, according to media reports. In particular, the head of the company went to <%BANNER[article]%>Taiwan to negotiate with Powerchip Semiconductor over a potential joint fab venture, it is claimed.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Elpida and Taiwanese DRAM maker Powerchip would form a memory venture. The company would take over an existing Powerchip plant in central Taiwan with an initial capital of $304 million, (NT$10 billion), reports EETimes web-site citing Commercial Times news-paper.

Earlier Elpida always used popular technology for capacity strategy with its partners, for example, with Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), the world’s number three contract maker of semiconductors. Under the agreements, Elpida transferred its fabrication processes to third parties in exchange for manufacturing capacities. The agreement to form a joint fab venture is unlikely to fit into that plan.

Neither Elpida, nor Powerchip commented on the news-story.