Infineon boosts memory chip output

By John G.Spooner, GameSpot Europe, 11 March, 2002 16:48

NEWS

Infineon Technologies, eyeing a recovery in the memory chip market, is increasing its production capacity through a pair of manufacturing agreements. The German DRAM (dynamic random access memory) maker announced on Monday it has inked a pair of deals with memory chip manufacturers that will boost its capacity by 20,000 wafers per month by 2003. The extra capacity roughly equals that of a midsize chip manufacturing plant. A wafer, an 8-inch or 12-inch disc on which chips are manufactured, is the basic element of chip production. The moves show that the ongoing consolidation among DRAM makers is continuing despite indications that the business is improving and a market recovery is around the corner. The consolidation, which most recently saw Toshiba sell its DRAM operation to Micron Technologies, will leave fewer players than before the market turned down at the end of 2000. The companies that survive stand to gain a much larger share of the profits once the market recovers. The deal also girds Infineon for the potential impact of the long-expected agreement between Micron and Hynix. The two DRAM makers have been in discussions for months for Micron to buy Hynix's DRAM operation. Such an agreement would produce a DRAM giant, with Micron occupying the top spot in the market. Analysts rank Infineon as the number four DRAM maker, behind Samsung, Micron and Hynix. Infineon began its effort to boost capacity by modifying its 1996 joint venture with Mosel Vitelic, which is called ProMOS Technologies. Infineon began taking a larger share of the output from the ProMOS venture, up from 38 to 48 percent, beginning 1 March. The ProMOS factory, located in Hsinchu, Taiwan, produces mainly 128-megabit and 256-megabit SDRAM (synchronous DRAM) and DDR SDRAM (double data rate SDRAM) chips. Under a longer term deal, Infineon will license its DRAM manufacturing technology to Hsinchu-based Winbond in exchange for access to resulting standard DRAM chips. The deal will allow Winbond to manufacture SDRAM for sale to Infineon starting next year. The company will also be able to use Infineon's technology for other products. Infineon said it expects Winbond will begin by manufacturing 256-megabit DDR SDRAM chips. While nether deal is "earth shattering," each serves the purpose of helping Infineon prepare for the future, said Andrew Norwood, an analyst with Dataquest. The Winbond deal, for example, "helps Infineon in terms of capacity as we head towards the upturn, and it helps Winbond secure technology," Norwood said.

See Chips Central for the latest headlines on processors and semiconductors. For further coverage of upcoming UK and international events go to ZDNet UK's Events channel. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the Chips Central Forum. Let the Chips Central editor know what you think by email. And sign up for the weekly Chips Central newsletter.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

41 minutes ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Your comments would seem pretty naive and immature. Your 'solution' appears to be, "gee, let's all just give in to the hackers and give them...

54 minutes ago by ramwellian on Cloud computing security: no more oxymoron?

"Interesting thought ... If you installed Win7 as a dual boot on a machine that previously only had Linux, and it wrecked your Linux installation,...

1 hour ago by BugStalker on Windows 7 Declares War on GRUB

This is an excellent summary of Ubuntu and Mint and the interface differences between them. Most such articles take a very partisan position for...

1 hour ago by whs001 on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

@ewallace. Not so clear. Anyone can obtain the text, for example from here http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2379. I support ACTA so long as it and...

2 hours ago by Moley on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions

I think WinRT is fantastic. I just wish it was an option for people that didn't want to go through Microsoft's App Store with its attendant...

5 hours ago by 45283 on Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA

Nine people? £30m? Who's back pocket is that lot going in? And IF they say it is for new buildings, what about all the ones the government has...

6 hours ago by Burn-IT on Police set to launch three £30m e-crime hubs

Just to be clear, nobody knows what is in the text of ACTA, here is a photograph of the text of ACTA http://twitpic.com/8h9iju as submitted to the...

6 hours ago by ewallace on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions

Unfortunately main issue is that ASUS is refusing to accept that they make some mistake on this version of asus Transformer prime. 1 - GPS sensor...

7 hours ago by fgvrg56 on Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wi-Fi & GPS problems?

@Marcus A fair question. Just talked with Archos which said it was working on an announcement for next week....

8 hours ago by Ben Woods on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Any update on this, considering the claimed "first week of February"?

9 hours ago by Marcus Karlsson via Facebook on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Bill Goodrich : Just as al_langevin pointed out, with Windows Server 2008 there is no Services for Macintosh anymore. It's gone, not available....

18 hours ago by apexwm on Windows Server 2008 drops the ball for Mac compatibility

Replying to an old topic that I'm currently facing with my CEO (who is on a Mac). Our servers are primarily Windows Servers, office is about...

1 day ago by txtrainguy on Windows Server 2008 drops the ball for Mac compatibility

Sure, that makes perfect sense. Pay wrong-doers money and thank them for breaching your security and pointing out your flaws, that would surely...

1 day ago by k0tcs3 on US indicts Romanian over NASA climate change hack

I think he's referring specifically to Android apps, as Apple do regulate their App Store, but Google seem to let any old crap onto the Android store!

1 day ago by Random_Error on RIM: BlackBerry will keep 'garbage' apps out of store