Taiwan's economics minister Shih Yen-shiang will meet officers of 10 DRAM memory-related companies including Nanya Technology, Inotera Memories, Rexchip Electronics and ProMOS Technologies later today (March 3) for discussions regarding issues with the Taiwan DRAM industry's reform program, according to officials at the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA). Shih would like to hear advice from the industry side and will make some governmental announcements.
MOEA has been barred by lawmakers from obtaining a budget from the National Development Fund (NDF) for supporting Taiwan Innovative Memory Company (TIMC), which was set up as part of a government plan to restructure the island's capacity-driven DRAM sector last year.
The MOEA officials noted that TIMC will likely fail to carry out its mission to develop Taiwan's home-grown DRAM technology. Despite the failure, the Taiwan government has provided the island's once-struggling DRAM makers with assistance, including subsidies and extension of their loan repayments, the officials claimed.
John Hsuan, who is in charge of the TIMC project, has said TIMC will not seek funding from companies in the private sector if the government itself decides not to invest in it. Hsuan has been cited in previous reports saying the existence of TIMC only depends on the government's attitude towards its DRAM overhaul plan.
The government-led TIMC project has been in an awkward position. It was once considered a major competitor of a camp comprising of Nanya and Inotera along with their technology partner Micron Technology. But on the other hand, TIMC won support from Elpida, as well as ProMOS, and backend suppliers Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) and King Yuan Electronics (KYEC).
In other news, Elpida itself has expanded its Taiwan-based partner base despite its uncertain partnership with TIMC. The Japan-based memory vendor has inked foundry deals with ProMOS and Winbond Electronics, in addition to its existing ones with PSC and subsidiary Rexchip.