Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said domestic makers of computer memory should consolidate to remain competitive as demand falls amid a global recession.
“Certainly we wouldn’t abandon this industry” in Taiwan, which accounts for about 30 percent of global supplies, Siew said yesterday at an American Chamber of Commerce meeting in Taipei, when asked what the government would do to support the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) market.
“We should take this opportunity to consolidate the industry to become more competitive,” he said.
The nation’s top-five DRAM producers posted combined losses of NT$94.8 billion (US$2.8 billion) in the first nine months. Against this backdrop, Siew said DRAM makers needed integration, innovation, intellectual capital, integrity and infrastructure.
“We will help them develop very high technical capability,” he said, without providing more details on the possible assistance for chipmakers.
“If our DRAM industry in Taiwan can’t take advantage of this opportunity and upgrade and become more competitive, even without the financial crisis, you can’t survive,” Siew said.
The vice president also said Taiwan had room to increase its debt-to-fund public spending to boost economic growth. The ratio of outstanding debt to gross domestic product is 36.95 percent at present and Taiwan has a statutory limit of 48 percent.
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