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To: DJBEINO who wrote (9339)	5/24/2001 1:48:21 AM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 9582

Mosel anticipates DRAM turnaround By Dan Nystedt STAFF REPORTER Mosel Vitelic Inc (¥xÆWZª¿) executives said yesterday they believe the DRAM industry will turn around in September as most companies are turning to new technologies and that such moves require time to ramp up production. "This year, there will be no new DRAM fabs coming online, so the only chance to add additional [inventory on the market] will be with new technology," said Thomas Chang (±iªF¶©), a vice president at Mosel Vitelic. Since most firms are not moving up the ladder to new manufacturing processes, "no additional chips will be produced due to device shrinkage this year," he said. The company also said it will have 256 double data rate synchronous DRAM samples available next month and will put the chips in full production by the fourth quarter of the year. In addition, Mosel Vitelic plans to produce high-density Flash memory, 64Mbit and 128Mbit, in the first quarter of next year. The market for DRAM -- the chips that make short term memory possible in nearly all electronics devices -- has been so bad this year, current prices are about half the cost of production. DRAM chips trade as a commodity on world markets, and the Asian market for 64Mbit DRAM hit new lows yesterday at US$1.46 per chip, while 128Mbit DRAM prices dropped as low as US$3.08 per chip. Manufacturers in Taiwan have stated previously that their cost per chip on 64Mbit DRAM is around US$3, while 128Mbit DRAM costs about US$5 per chip to make. Chang believes the major contribution of additional chips this year will come from improvement in the yield per wafer on DRAM chips. Chang said that although the difference will be slight, any increase in yield is still significant. The yield rate per silicon wafer for local manufacturers is already hitting 70 percent for 128 Mbit DRAM chips. Chang said increasing yield beyond 70 percent is very difficult. Mosel Vitelic closed up its 7 percent market imposed limit as did most other DRAM shares yesterday. Shares of the company ended the day at NT$20.4 per share, up NT$1.3 on the day. taipeitimes.com