Taiwan DRAM Makers Team Up With Corporations to Boost Competitiveness
January 30, 2001 (TAIPEI) -- Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp., one of Taiwan's leading DRAM makers, recently allied with Silicon Storage Technology Inc. of the United States.
As with other partnerships forged by Taiwanese DRAM makers with international heavyweight players in this field, VISC's alliance is being seen as a move by which it can strengthen its position against giant rivals Micron Technology Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Up to now, Taiwan's DRAM makers, including Winbond Electronics Corp., PowerChip Semiconductor Corp., ProMos Technologies Inc., and Nanya Technology Corp., have each teamed up with Toshiba Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., Infineon AG, and IBM Corp.
Local industry specialists argue that Taiwan's DRAM makers are eager to form alliances with international players because they need the ties to enhance their competitive strength at a time when the world chip market is weak.
Taiwan's DRAM makers forecast that the world DRAM market will soon be oversupplied. To cope with the expected recession, many of them have put on hold expansion plans and allied with major international manufacturers to quickly boost their technological levels.
Winbond, PowerChip, and ProMos have entered into long-term alliances with Toshiba, Mitsubishi, and Infineon. Nanya recently inked an agreement to acquire IBM's 0.175-micron processing technology, while VISC and SST have agreed to co-develop advanced processing technology for flash memory chips.
PowerChip spokesman C. M. Tang notes that currently Samsung and Micron are the only DRAM makers which can afford to build multi-billion 12-inch silicon-wafer fabrication plants on their own. To improve their technological strength to rival the two giants, most of Taiwan's DRAM makers are opting to work with major international players, he adds.
Tang says that the Taiwanese-Japanese alliances against Samsung and Micron have clearly emerged as an important factor in global DRAM competition. He ascribes the Taiwan-Japan partnerships to the complementary positions between the two sides.
(Commercial Times, Taiwan)
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