Remember where you red it first...six months ago.
And what do I get for following memory closely - I get "static"!!! :0)
Germany builds great cars but failed in as a chip maker or equipment maker.
Back 20+ years ago some people said semiconductors are Siemens most expensive "hobby".
I think Germen like to build things at 110% and test it over and over again but in reality often things have to pushed out the door before being perfect and fix things later on the fly.
But that usually does not bode well with German engineering sense.
The Germen also spend a lot of time to figure out why things are working before "releasing" it, in the US "release" it in case it's working - ask questions later.
Qimonda could sell its Inotera stake and focus on specialty DRAM etc. it's going to be hard to compete in commodity DRAM and it's going to drag down Nanya who needs a stronger partner.
1.) Nanya is lagging in regards to die size 8F2 vesus 6F2
2.) Copper will be mandatory @ 65nm and below (at least according to DRAM interconnect roadmap); Micron is the only memory guy that runs copper in production for some time
3.) Micron, Sammy and Hynicks all settled on stack capacitor versus trench capacitor; not sure about Elpida but Qimonda seems to be the only one that still banks on trench
4.) Nanya got leap frogged 512Mb versus 1Gb; what I recall backend testing is significantly less for higher density
Qimonda sells Inotera stake, cutting 3,000 jobs
Monday October 13, 1:54 pm ET
Germany's Qimonda sells stake in Inotera to Micron for $400 million; cuts 3,000 jobs
BERLIN (AP) -- German memory-chip maker Qimonda AG is cutting 3,000 jobs and selling its stake in Inotera -- a joint venture with Taiwan's Nanya Technology Corp. -- to Micron Technology Inc. for $400 million.
ADVERTISEMENT
Qimonda, which is majority owned by Infineon Technologies AG, said the cash deal to sell its 35.6 percent stake in Inotera Memories Inc. is part of a wider restructuring and cost-cutting program. The company said it is trying to become "leaner and more focused" because of a severe downturn in the memory chip industry.
Prices of flash memory chips have fallen this year because of an oversupply in the market.
Qimonda is not the first to be hit by such pricing pressures -- last week, Micron itself said it would cut about 15 percent of its work force. Micron said flash-memory oversupply had driven the selling price for chips below manufacturing costs.
Qimonda expects to record a one-time loss of about 300 million euros ($403 million) on its investment in Inotera.
"The sale of our stake in Inotera is a key step in Qimonda's restructuring, helping to give us a cash influx and sharpening our focus," Chief Executive Kin Wah Loh said in a statement. "We plan to concentrate our efforts on selected market segments where we can best leverage our innovative technologies," he added, saying, "we will rationalize our manufacturing footprint and streamline our operational and personnel structures."
Qimonda plans to stop manufacturing chips at one of its two facilities in Richmond, Va., by January. A factory in Dresden, Germany, will be shut down by the end of next March.
The company also said it will reduce research, development and administrative expenses and staff -- mainly in Munich, Dresden and Raleigh, N.C. -- in moves that will affect some 3,000 employees.
The company said the plans call for some 1,500 job cuts in Germany and 1,500 in the United States. Qimonda said it had a total of 12,200 employees as of September.
Qimonda expects to take restructuring charges of some 50 million euros ($67 million) in the next quarter, and sees the program resulting in annual cost savings of about 450 million euros ($604 million) once implemented.
Also on Monday, Qimonda said its chief financial officer, Michael Majerus, is stepping down and will be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Thomas Seifert on an interim basis.
Qimonda said Majerus' resignation "comes at his own wish for personal reasons."
(This version corrects that not all production will cease in Richmond; the company has two facilities there.) |
