Toshiba, NEC Intend to Increase
Output of Rambus Memory Chips
NIKKEI NET INTERACTIVE
TOKYO -- Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp. are restructuring their manufacturing operations to increase output of high-speed dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, products, substantially and reduce production of commodity-grade DRAMs, industry sources said Thursday.
The two companies aim to shore up their faltering microchip businesses as declining prices of lower-grade DRAMs, currently in oversupply, are squeezing profitability at their chip operations.
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Both companies will gear up production of Rambus memory chips, called Direct RDRAMs, which have a data transfer speed more than twice that of older DRAMs.
Demand for the advanced DRAMs is expected to rise sharply as Intel Corp. is set to procure great quantities for its MPU Pentium 4.
Toshiba will raise its monthly output of RDRAMs to 8 million units, about 60% of the overall DRAM output, from 2.3 million by the end of September.
Meanwhile, the company will halve the monthly output of its commodity-grade DRAMs to 4.5-5.0 million units.
NEC will also raise monthly production of its RDRAMs supplied to Elpida Memory Inc., the joint DRAM sales venture set up with Hitachi Ltd., to 5 million units from 2 million by September.
W.S.J. |
