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Micron, Nanya agree to form venture

Micron Technology Inc, the biggest US memory chipmaker, agreed to form a semiconductor venture with Taiwanese rival Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) to develop chips.

The chipmakers plan to sign a final agreement in the "next few months" after reaching a preliminary accord, the two companies said in a statement through Business Wire yesterday.

The financial terms were not disclosed.

Micron chief executive officer Steve Appleton said last month he could acquire rivals to gain ground in the US$28 billion computer-memory-chip market and diminish the company's vulnerability to boom-and-bust cycles.

Oversupply of chips forced Micron to report losses in six of the past 10 years.

Prices of the benchmark type of dynamic random access memory, which temporarily stores data to speed up computers, tumbled to a record low of US$1.87 on Dec. 21, said Dramexchange Technology Inc, operator of Asia's biggest spot market for chips.

Nanya posted a record quarterly loss during the October-to-December period.

Nanya will spin off its old memory-chip factory in Taipei and install new equipment for the venture that will produce memory chips using Micron's so-called "stack" technology, Taipei-based Digitimes reported yesterday, citing unidentified semiconductor equipment makers.
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