There are still no signs that Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc’s bankruptcy filing will have an impact on the sector in Taiwan, a senior executive from Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) said on Saturday.
“Any possible impact will not be obvious until after the Japanese court decides whether to approve Elpida’s bankruptcy protection petition,” said Wu Chia-chau (吳嘉昭), chairman of Nanya Technology, Formosa Plastics Group’s (FPG, 台塑集團) dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip arm.
Elpida — Japan’s top and the world’s third-largest maker of DRAM chips — filed for bankruptcy protection with a Tokyo court last week and has promised to unveil a restructuring plan within six weeks.
It remains unclear whether its plan would receive support from the court and its creditors.
Wu denied a media report that ranking executives from FPG, one of the world’s largest petrochemical groups, had sought government assistance to help rescue the struggling local DRAM industry.
DRAM and petrochemicals are two different industries, Wu said, adding that DRAM requires heavy capital investment and has limited gross margins.
Elpida has factories based in Taiwan and its local partners include Rexchip Electronics Inc (瑞晶電子), Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) and Walton Advanced Engineering Inc (華東科技).
Speaking of the DRAM sector’s outlook, Wu said the Elpida case showed that the “technology sector should not just make a single product.”
Nanya Technology, which shares DRAM technology patents with US chipmaker Micron Technology Inc, will try to develop a diversified product line to ensure its survival in the business, he said.
According to Nanya Technology, it owns both eight-inch and 12-inch fabs and began mass production of 42 nanometer (nm) stack technologies in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Nanya forged an alliance with Micron in 2008.
Both companies have successfully conducted 42nm development and 30nm technologies are being worked on jointly in research laboratories, according to the company’s Web site.
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