Rexchip Electronics has budgeted NT$9 billion (US$311 million) in capex for 2011 to ramp a new 12-inch DRAM fab and upgrade to 30nm-class process technology, according to company president and spokesperson Stephen Chen. It originally planned NT$4 billion in capex for the year.
Rexchip spent about NT$4 billion to construct the fab shell of its second fab, which was carried out in 2008, Chen said. The company plans to complete cleanroom construction and equipment move-in by the end of 2011 with an investment estimated at NT$5 billion, Chen indicated.
Meanwhile, Rexchip is schedule to enter volume production of 4Gb chips using Elpida Memory's 30nm-class stack process in June, and expects to convert all of its 12-inch chip production to the node at the end of 2011, according to Chen. 30% of the total output will be reserved for production of server DRAM, Chen added.
Rexchip's transition to 4Xnm production process has grown the company's chip output to 88,000 12-inch wafers a month, and shifting to a 3Xnm process will deliver about 40% more chips per wafer, Chen noted.
Rexchip reportedly will produce server DRAM chips for Elpida using a 38nm process, with volume production slated for the second half of 2011. But both companies have declined to comment. Elpida only confirmed plans to place mobile DRAM orders with Rexchip. The production subsidiary may start making mobile DRAM products for it as early as the third quarter, the Japan chip vendor said.