The government will take action if needed to help domestic DRAM companies, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday as it sought to assuage fears over the impact of Elpida Memory Inc’s filing for bankruptcy protection in Japan on Monday.
The ministry said in a statement that to ensure stability and continued development for the DRAM industry, government agencies would closely monitor how Tokyo-based Elpida would undergo a court-led reorganization.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said it would delist Elpida stock — in the form of Taiwan Depositary Receipts (TDR) — on March 28, following the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s announcement on Monday that it was delisting Elpida’s shares on the Tokyo bourse that day.
Elpida TDRs will be banned from margin trading on the local bourse when the market reopens today after a four-day holiday, meaning all transactions will have to be conducted in cash, the stock exchange said in a separate statement.
Shares of Elpida dropped 23.95 percent to close at ￥254 in Tokyo yesterday. Its TDR ended 6.9 percent lower at NT$7.02 in Taipei on Friday last week.
The ministry and the Financial Supervisory Commission held an emergency meeting yesterday, one day after Elpida filed a petition for corporate reorganization proceedings with the Tokyo District Court to seek protection from creditors for ￥448.03 billion (US$5.53 billion) in debt as of March 31 last year.
Elpida operates a 12-inch fab in Hiroshima, Japan, with a monthly capacity of 120,000 wafers. Its Taiwanese subsidiary, Rexchip Electronics Inc (瑞晶電子), also operates a 12-inch fab with a monthly capacity of 85,000 wafers.
In a statement issued on Monday, Elpida blamed the company’s demise on “the record-breaking strong yen against the US dollar, and the steep fall of the price of DRAM products [because of] fiercer competition in the DRAM industry.”
Sluggish demand for DRAM chips from its customers hurt by the flooding in Thailand last year was another factor behind the company’s failure, it added.
While Elpida said it did not plan to exit the DRAM business and was aiming for restructuring under the Tokyo court’s supervision, Taiwanese companies should take responsive measures to protect their interests in terms of accounts receivable and other issues with the Japanese firm, the ministry said.
Domestic downstream companies should also diversify their sources of supply, the ministry said, as analysts forecast a near-term price spike in memory chips.
“DRAM prices will likely rise (albeit slowly) due to supply shortages,” Samsung Securities’ Seoul-based analysts MS Huang and Eric Yoo said in a note yesterday.
“We expect DRAM prices to stage a mild recovery from the second quarter,” Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Jae H. Lee said in a note on Monday.
The ministry downplayed concern that Elpida’s demise could adversely impact Taiwanese firms that rely on the Japanese company for technology support.
Elpida has made the transition to 30-nanometer (nm) process as its main technology starting this year and is nearing completion of its migration to 25nm process technology.
“There are no such concerns in the near to medium term because Taiwanese firms that have entered into technology cooperations with Elpida have embarked on 3X-nanometer process and are ready to begin mass production,” it said.
CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT: A new committee would investigate a backlog of US weapons sales to Taiwan, said its chairman, US Representative Mike Gallagher The US should formally recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, and end its outdated and counterproductive “one China” policy, US Representative Tom Tiffany and 18 other US lawmakers wrote in a petition. “It is time to change the status quo and recognize the reality denied by the US government for decades: Taiwan is an independent nation,” Tiffany told the Epoch Times. “As our long-standing and valued partner, correctly acknowledging their independence from communist China is long overdue.” The resolution also asks the administration of US President Joe Biden to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and to negotiate a bilateral free-trade
The Pentagon is preparing for US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit Taiwan later this year, Punchbowl News reported on Monday, citing an official directly involved in the talks. US administration officials anticipate McCarthy would visit Taiwan some time in the spring, the report said. McCarthy had previously pledged to visit Taiwan if he became House speaker. He was elected speaker earlier this month. He had also said that he would have liked to join then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s delegation when she visited Taiwan in August last year. Pelosi’s 19-hour visit to Taipei marked the first time in 25 years
Taiwan’s Chou Chieh-yu (周婕妤) was crowned the Kamui WPA Women’s World 9-Ball Champion after shutting out British pool titan Allison Fisher 9-0 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the organizers said on Sunday. Following the championship win at Harrah’s Resort and Casino Atlantic City, Chou pocketed US$30,000 and became the first female competitor to hold both the 9-ball and 10-ball world titles since Briton Kelly Fisher in 2012. Chou, 36, won the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship in Austria in September last year after clinching a silver medal at last year’s World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, in July. “I’m very excited and it’s like
JOINT OPERATIONS: Participating in the IMET program, which offers professional training and education to military personnel, would boost Taiwan’s defense capabilities The US government is appropriating funding to help Taiwan participate in its International Military Education & Training (IMET) program to enhance interoperability and capabilities for joint operations of the Taiwanse and US militaries. The funding for Taiwan’s participation in the program is mentioned in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023, a US$1.7 trillion spending bill funding the US federal government for the fiscal year 2023. It covers funding for military support for Ukraine, defense spending and regions affected by natural disasters. The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that IMET is an important US
RSS