Two of the world’s biggest DRAM memory manufacturers, NEC Corp and Hitachi Corp, have given more details about their joint venture to share the development and production costs of future DRAM chips (CI No 3,713). The new company, tentatively called NEC-Hitachi Memory Inc, will start operations next April. It will initially work on developing a 256Mb DRAMs based on a 0.13 micron process.
Jim Sogas, director of the DRAM division for Hitachi Semiconductor America, says that reasons for the new venture are three-fold. The costs of developing and producing DRAM chips are skyrocketing. After a five-year depression in the DRAM market, margins are still extremely low. and the market for DRAM chips is splintering. Sogas said that DRAM manufacturers can no longer rely on a simple product line catering for the needs of the market. For instance, he said, a company may now have to support DRAM variants such as Rambus DRAM and virtual channel DRAM from NEC, as well as standard synchronous DRAMs.
Hitachi and NEC are now producing 0.18 micron 256Mb DRAM chips as standard. The companies will continue working separately on 0.15 micron chips. Sogas expects the development of the smaller 0.13 micron chips to take between a year and a half and two years. Initially, the company will produce SDRAMs, Extended Data Output DRAMs and Rambus DRAMs. The new chips will be produced under a new, as yet undecided brand name. The parent companies will actually manufacture the chips.
The initial paid-in capital of NEC-Hitachi Memory is currently about $5m. By the first quarter of next year, Sogas says that it will be about $20m. The new company will likely be the second biggest memory manufacturer in the world, after Hyundai MicroElectronics Co – the company formed through the merger of Hyundai and LG Semicon. According to the latest figures from International Data Corp, Samsung Electronics Co is currently the largest DRAM manufacturer in the world. á
