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TMC-Elpida alliance does not violate WTO rules: MOEA

The Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday that a proposal for government-backed Taiwan Memory Co (TMC, 台灣創新記憶體公司) to invest in Japan’s Elpida Memory Inc would not violate the fair trade competition rules of the WTO.

TECHNOLOGY

A partnership between TMC and Elpida, Japan’s sole maker of dynamic random access memory chips, would help the government’s plan to nurture DRAM technology development in Taiwan, instead of local firms paying huge amount of royalties for foreign companies to use their technology, the ministry said in a statement.

“If TMC invests in Elpida in the future, it should be a strategic move for international collaboration, which does not violate the WTO rule on fair competition,” the ministry said.

COMPLAINTS

The ministry’s remark came in the wake of a Bloomberg report that the administration of US President Barack Obama had promised to press Japan and Taiwan over their subsidies for Elpida, following complaints from US rival Micron Technology Inc. The US has said it would bring up the issue at WTO proceedings.

The article cited a letter from US Trade Representative Ron Kirk to Republican Senator Mike Crapo, following the latter’s repeated claims that Micron was at a disadvantage relative to its subsidized competitors.
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