Frank Huang, founder and ex-chairman of Powerchip Technology, will use his own capital to acquire an up to 20% stake in the company, Powerchip announced recently. The price is set at NT$0.30 (US$0.01) per share.

Industry watchers speculate that Huang's planned equity investment in Powerchip is aimed at reviving the ailing business and assisting Taiwan's once largest DRAM maker to be publicly listed again.

Trading of shares of Powerchip has been suspended on Taiwan's over-the-counter (OTC) securities market since December 2012, as the net value of the company's shares turned negative. Huang resigned as chairman of Powerchip to take responsibility for the delisting of the company's shares.

Powerchip has moved to reduce its exposure to the PC DRAM market. The firm is looking to liquidate fab P3 – currently the only DRAM fab it has – and focus on providing foundry services for non-memory ICs, specialty DRAM and other niche-market memory chips utilizing its P1 and P2 plants.

Powerchip once had the largest 12-inch DRAM capacity in Taiwan, and used to sell the majority of its chips on the spot market.