Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體), Taiwan's top computer memory chipmaker, said yesterday it would form a three-way venture with Japan's Renesas Technology Corp and Sharp Corp to design chips used in liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) for consumer electronics.
Powerchip will hold a 20 percent stake in the venture, to be known as Renesas SP Drivers Inc, a joint statement said. Renesas and Sharp will hold shares of 55 percent and 25 percent respectively.
Renesas SP Drivers, which will have ¥5 billion (US$46.7 million) in capital, will design, develop and sell drivers and controllers used in consumer electronics such as mobile phones and digital photo frames, Powerchip said.
The company is set to begin operation on April 1.
The joint venture will produce cost-competitive products in an increasingly competitive, fast-growing market, the statement said.
"The deal will provide a way for Powerchip to better utilize its 8-inch factory [which cannot make PC memory chips cost competitively] ... although the gross margin for LCD drivers and controllers is not impressive," said Rick Hsu (徐稦成), a senior research analyst at Nomura Securities Co Ltd (野村證券).
The Hsinchu-based chipmaker said late last month that its board had agreed to spin off its less advanced 8-inch plant to independent subsidiary Maxchip Semiconductor Corp (
The plant makes about 35,000 8-inch wafers a month for customers including South Korean Hynix Semiconductor Inc and Taiwan's Chi Lin Technology Co (奇菱科技).
Shares of Powerchip and local rival ProMOS Technologies Inc (
The stock price of the nation's second-largest computer memory chipmaker, Nanya Technology Corp (
In response, Nanya Technology said yesterday that companies had approached it to talk about possible collaboration, but no agreements had been reached. It declined to comment on weather Micron was one of the interested parties.
"It's too early to comment on any mergers yet," Nomura's Hsu said.
But such a deal would have a negative affect on Nanya's business and stock price, Hsu said.
Nanya fabricates memory chips using trench technology from partner Infineon Technologies AG, while Micron adopts stack technology, he said.
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS