Intel to invest extra 23 million dollars in Japan's Elpida Memory

TOKYO (AFP) Sep 02, 2003
US chipmaking giant Intel has agreed to invest an extra 23 million dollars in Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory to support production of Elpida's high-performance DRAM chips, the Japanese firm said Tuesday.

The fresh investment followed an agreement announced in June that Intel would invest 100 million dollars in Elpida, a joint venture between Japanese hi-tech giants NEC and Hitachi.

"Elpida has been taking steps to improve its overall position to become a top-tier DRAM (dynamic random access memory) supplier and increase its market segment share," Yukio Sakamoto, president of Elpida, said in a statement.

Elpida plans to use the investments to boost production of 300-millimeter DRAM wafers to 15,000 per month from 3,000 at its plant in Hiroshima, western Japan, a company spokesman said.

The high-performance DRAMS chips are used for mobile phones, digital cameras and computer servers.

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