Samsung, Intel Forge Strategic Alliance
koreatimes.co.kr
Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chipmaker, announced yesterday it would forge a strategic duet with Intel Corp., to expand its sales of Rambus dynamic random access memory (Rambus DRAM).
The proposed investment for Samsung Electronics is part of Intel's strategy to support the supply of next-generation memory chip products. The goal is to help drive personal computer industry by accelerating the production of Rambus DRAM, which enhances balanced PC system performance as microprocessor capability increases and more and more multimedia and three- dimensional functions are used.
Under the joint statement, the two companies agreed to closely cooperate to strengthen the world's demand for Rambus DRAM chips and to ensure a stable supply of chips for Intel's Pentium IV computer series.
In addition, the California-based memory chip giant will support facility investments in Samsung Electronics to enable it to produce more than 10 million 128 mega-bit chips a month from March. However, a Samsung spokesman said Intel didn't give details on the amount of investment.
``Intel will provide needed facility investments for Samsung Electronics to increase its Rambus DRAM production up to 10 million units a month,'' he said in a statement.
According to the California-based Semiconductor Industry Association, overall sales of semiconductors grew 37 percent last year to $204 billion.
This year, in case of Rambus DRAM, Samsung expects the world market to expand to more than 300 million units _ including 250 million units for Pentium IV PCs and 50 million units for game consoles, and it is expected to double to more than 600 million next year.
Meanwhile, in face of the full-blown sale of Pentium IV PC and high-end game console _ such as Sony's PlayStation II and Microsoft's Xbox, global chipmakers are now preparing to increase their chip production.
Samsung plans to increase its monthly chip output to 10 million from March and to 20 million from the second half of the year, hoping to grab more than 50 percent of the world's Rambus DRAM market. Japan's Toshiba, which currently produces 2.3 million Rambus DRAM chips a month, but starting in September it will increase production to 8 million, 60 percent of all DRAM chips produced to meet the anticipated soaring chip demand.
In addition, Elpida Memory, a joint venture between NEC and Hitachi, will increase its Rambus DRAM chips supply to 5 million a month in September from the current 2 million.
A 128 megabit Rambus DRAM chips still cost $17 to $18, despite the increase in supply.
kdh@koreatimes.co.kr |
