Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), Taiwan's second-biggest maker of computer memory chips, yesterday said that it had obtained approval from major customers, including Intel Corp, to make chips using advanced 75 nanometer technology, thereby reducing costs.
This will further strengthen Nanya Technology's lead over local peers in developing advanced technologies in the highly volatile computer memory chip manufacturing industry.
improvement
The introduction of 75 nanometer technology would be a further step to improve the cost position of Nanya Technology and Qimonda AG, a spin-off memory chipmaker of German Infineon AG, the companies said in a joint statement released after the stock market closed yesterday.
"The process structure of 75 nanometer further reduces chip size compared to the 90 nanometer technology, [the most advanced technology used to make computer memory chips currently], thereby increasing potential chip output per 300mm wafer by about 40 percent," the companies said.
Recently, memory chipmakers have been making every effort to cut costs by adopting more advanced technologies in order to eke out profits amid price declines driven by overcapacity.
The introduction of the next-generation technology would also allow Nanya Technology to start pilot production on 70 nanometer technology at Inotera Memories Inc's (華亞科技) plant by the end of the year as scheduled, Nanya Technology said.
Joint venture
Inotera, a joint venture with the world's second-largest computer chipmaker Qimonda, currently operates a 300mm factory in Taoyuan and is building a second.
Inotera would use the 75 nanometer and 70 nanometer technologies in making high-speed 512Megabit double-data-rate second generation (DDR2) memory chips for computers and DDR3 chips after fully converting its production to 90 nanometer technology early next month.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by