Hynix may trim production of DRAM

Samsung dominates the market for Rambus Inc-designed memory chips, taking advantage of the fact Intel Corp's latest processor, as yet, will only work with that kind of DRAM.

Micron and Hynix concentrate on an alternative called double data rate, for which Intel has yet to release a chipset. Chipsets regulate the flow of data between a processor and other parts of a computer.

Samsung will continue to increase the proportion of its plants devoted to larger-capacity chips such as 256-megabit DRAM, Cho Sung-in, a company spokeswoman, said.

Some manufacturers doubt whether production cuts will work even with coordinated industry action.

"It probably will be helpful but there are still questions about demand," said Mike Liu, a spokesman for Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子), which said last week it expects to lose money on operations for the next two quarters. "Nobody knows when there will be a rebound."