SMIC to make chips for a NEC-Hitachi venture

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯國際集成電路), a Shanghai-based supplier of made-to-order chips, said it will make computer-memory chips for Elpida Memory Inc, a venture between NEC Corp and Hitachi Ltd.

Under the five-year contract, which the chipmakers signed on Dec. 27, Elpida will sell the chips under its own brand, they said in separate faxed releases. SMIC will begin making dynamic random-access memory chips, the main memory in personal computers, for Elpida in the third quarter.

Elpida said last month it wants to cut capital investment costs by outsourcing more of its DRAM production to chipmakers such as SMIC and Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體).