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To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (28508)	2/16/1998 10:40:00 PM
From: DJBEINO	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 53903

M'bishi Elec To Drop 256M DRAMs; Focus On System Chips TOKYO (Nikkei)-Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has decided not to invest in fabrication technology for 256-megabit memory chips, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun learned Monday. The decision is a virtual retreat from DRAM competition, prompted because the company's memory chip business has gone deeply into the red due to the slump in prices. Instead, the firm will concentrate resources on system chips, which integrate memory and processing circuits on a single silicon wafer. Mitsubishi Electric's consolidated capital investment is likely to be well below 100 billion yen in and after the year through March 1999, compared with 123 billion yen in fiscal 1995. The firm will consign fabrication of 16M DRAMs to a joint venture in Taiwan and other producers, company officials said. Basic R&D work on memory will continue, however, in support of system chip development. The company plans to transfer an R&D engineering staff of 200-300 for the purpose. One of the world's 10 biggest makers of memory chips, Mitsubishi Electric will be the first major Japanese chipmaker to drop completely out of investment in high-density memory chips. The firm's decision is expected to prompt a similar move by Oki Electric Industry Co. Oki has already abandoned plans to build a new fabrication facility for DRAMs. The maker of communications equipment also plans to offset reduced DRAM output by increasing production of system chips.