Elpida Memory and Powerchip Semiconductor Solidify Strategic Alliance
March 5th, 2003, Hsinchu, Taiwan - Elpida Memory, Inc. (Elpida) and Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. (PSC) today announced the official signing of the sales and purchasing contract agreements solidifying their strategic alliance. The two companies also plan to sign a technology transfer agreement for 0.10 micron and 0.09 micron design and process technology in Japan. Beginning in March 2003, Elpida will buy DRAM products from PSC that are produced using the Mitsubishi-developed 0.15/0.13 micron process, and later, PSC will produce DRAM products using Elpida's own advanced 0.10/0.09 micron technology process. PSC is also entitled to develop, produce and sell its own products manufactured with Elpida's newest process technologies. As part of the agreement, PSC will provide up to 50% of its available 12-inch DRAM foundry capacity to Elpida.
"Elpida is very pleased to enter into this foundry agreement with Powerchip Semiconductor," said Yukio Sakamoto, president of Elpida Memory. "This alliance minimizes our investment risk while expanding our total production capacity. As a result, Elpida moves one step closer to achieving our goal of becoming the number 3 DRAM supplier in the world by 2004."
"The alliance with Elpida will enable PSC to maintain a stable source of advanced DRAM technology from Elpida, Japan's sole DRAM maker, which greatly enhances PSC's 12-inch fab production competitiveness," said Dr. Frank Huang, CEO of Powerchip Semiconductor. "We respect Elpida's aggressive commitment to advancing its process technology, while further expanding its market share within the DRAM industry, and we welcome the opportunity to leverage our resources and create a mutually beneficial relationship to better serve our DRAM customers."
The total capacity of PSC's 12-inch fab is currently 12,000 wafers per month, utilizing 0.15 micron process for mass production. PSC expects to implement 0.13 micron process technology during the second half of 2003. According to the agreement, PSC will later implement Elpida's 0.10 micron and 0.09 micron process in its 12-inch fab. Both parties will begin a technical transfer training program in October 2003 in which PSC will send engineers to Japan for training, and Elpida will have its supporting team stationed at PSC. PSC plans to start the initial production of 0.10 micron processing at the beginning of 2004, with mass production scheduled for mid-2004. The 0.09 micron technology process is scheduled to commence in early 2005.
About Elpida Memory, Inc.
Elpida Memory, Inc. is a technology leader in Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) with headquarters based in Tokyo, Japan, and sales and marketing operations located in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia. Elpida offers a broad range of leading-edge DRAM products including RDRAM®, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, Mobile RAM and Consumer SDRAM. Device densities currently range up to 512 Megabits each, and Module (DIMM) densities range up to 2 Gigabytes each. Elpida offers a variety of standard and high performance packaging techniques, including TSOP, BGA, FBGA, Tape Carrier Package (TCP), and Double Density Package (DDP). Elpida's research, design and development operations began as a joint venture between NEC and Hitachi on April 1, 2000, and sales and marketing operations commenced in Q1, 2001.
About Powerchip Semiconductor, Corp.
PSC is a professional wafer manufacturer in Taiwan. The Company uses advanced process technology and offers world-class products with excellent yield and quality. Our business includes commodity Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) production and wafer foundry of niche DRAM, SRAM, embedded DRAM and CMOS image sensors. PSC currently owns a state-of-the-art 8-inch fab, running at its monthly capacity of 40,000 wafers with 0.15 um process technology. PSC has also completed its first 12-inch fab, designed with a full capacity of 35,000 wafers, which has begun its mass production in Q4 2002. Fab 2 will focus on the manufacture of cutting-edge DRAM products while Fab 1 will gradually shift to full foundry services, including logic products, fostering the Company's long-term competitiveness in semiconductor industry. For more information about PSC, please log on to our web site at www.psc.com.tw
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Information in this news release is current as of the timing of the release, but may be revised later without notice.