Japan-based Elpida Memory's regional office in Taiwan reportedly has gone through a major personnel reshuffle, according to industry sources. Elpida has also undergone a restructuring of its PC DRAM distributor network in Taiwan.
Elpida Taiwan president Sean Hsieh offered his resignation in early June, and the Japan-based DRAM maker has appointed its vice president Oliver Chang to concurrently serve the post left by Hsieh.
The reshuffle comes after a new production-sales cooperation agreement between Elpida and Taiwan-based Powerchip Technology took effect starting June 1, the sources noted.
The cooperation agreement calls for Powerchip to ship over 50% of its DRAM production as well as a 35% of production of associate company Rexchip Electronics to Elpida. Powerchip's 12-inch fab currently has a capacity of 120,000-130,000 wafer starts a month, while Rexchip's 12-inch fab has a monthly capacity of 80,000 wafer starts.
It is also necessary for Elpida to undergo a restructuring of its PC DRAM distributor network in Taiwan as commodity DRAM chips rolled out by Powerchip and Rexchip are now to be distributed by Elpida under its own brand name, added the sources.
Elpida previously distributed its PC DRAM chips through 2-3 distributors, noted the sources, who also indicated that Elpida now plans to switch the distribution right to a new company set up by personnel affiliated to Powerchip.