Elpida inks DRAM technology deal with Taiwan's ProMos
By Faith Hung
05/06/2003 8:41 AM EST
URL: ebnews.com
Elpida Memory Inc. has agreed to both license its latest technologies to and purchase memory chips from Taiwan's ProMos Technologies Inc., following a model that allows the Japanese chipmaker to boost capacity without increasing its capital expenditures in a volatile market.
Elpida said that it will transfer its new DRAM processes to ProMos, starting with linewidths of 10nm and below. In exchange, ProMos will reserve its production lines and sell chips to Elpida, Tokyo.
ProMos, a venture established by Mosel Vitelic Inc. and Infineon Technologies A.G. of Germany, has been courting technology partners like Elpida since Infineon pulled out of the venture last year as a result of disputes with Mosel.
"This partnership will further increase Elpida's DRAM capacity, allowing us to deliver advanced, high-quality products to the market quickly," said Elpida president Yukio Sakamoto in an announcement made in Tokyo today.
The agreement is the latest in a series of similar arrangements that Elpida has made with Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. and Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. At a time when the DRAM industry has been in a slump with no sign of bouncing back any time soon, the pattern suggests that Elpida wants to expand market share but avoid spending billions of dollars building its own wafer facilities.
ProMos, which has used trench technology licensed by Infineon, will make 3,000 to 5,000 wafers per month on Elpida's stack technology, making the way for ProMos to smoothly use Elpida's process technologies, Albert Lin, a ProMos board member, said at a press conference in Taipei.
In 2004, Hsinchu-based ProMos plans to build its second 300mm-wafer plant for the production of DRAMs, flash and other memory chips on the stack technology, Lin said.
"We'll be looking for partners to share the cost of the project, but Elpida is not going to be among those that will invest in it," he said. Volume production of the 300mm fab is scheduled for 2005.
ProMos, which has struggled to find new technology sources after the breakup between Mosel and Infineon a few months ago, is pinning its hopes of the success of the partnership with Elpida.
"It gives us a great deal of opportunity to pursue our new strategy," Lin said. "We're not just a manufacturer that depends on outside technologies anymore. We'll also develop technologies with Elpida and have our own brand of products," Lin said.
Some analysts were not as optimistic. "From Infineon to Elpida, ProMos' position hasn't really changed that much," said Barro Liao, a senior analyst at Prudential Securities Investment Trust & Co. in Taipei. "Unless ProMos doesn't have to rely on technologies from other companies, it's just a manufacturer that has few advantages."
Hsinchu-based Powerchip, which has had a similar agreement with Elpida, recently reported that it lost $56 million in the three months to March on revenues of $89 million due to a glut of supply and soft demand. Elpida and ProMos, which started talks in March 2002, expect to finalize details of their partnership next quarter and said a memorandum of understanding has been signed. |
