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To: CHIP HUNTER who wrote (29012)	2/25/1998 6:07:00 PM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 53903

NEC Re-examining Processes Due to Semiconductor Price Fall, Reducing Costs through Cuts in Mask Production Looking for ways to cut costs, NEC <TOKYO:6701> has begun a review of its production processes to effect a 20% reduction in the number of masks, the originals used to print the patterns of semiconductor circuits. The design of the circuit is drawn on a mask, and a tool called a stepper copies the pattern onto a silicon wafer. This is one of the fundamental processes for semiconductor production. The major Japanese semiconductor makers presently use 24 or 25 masks to make a DRAM. NEC will attempt to revise its production processes to reduce this to 18 masks. NEC is under increasing pressure from cost competition by other makers and must cut its costs. The American company Micron Technology (of Idaho) is said to use just 14 or 15 masks. NEC appears to have taken this threat seriously.