Scott Meikle will begin as executive vice president of Inotera Memories on June 1, 2010, and his predecessor Michael Sadler will return to Micron Technology's US headquarters, the Micron-Nanya Technology joint venture has announced.
Meikle revealed that Micron has completed transferring its 50nm process technology to Inotera, and is on schedule to shift Inotera's production lines to the node. By the end of 2010, Inotera will be capable of processing 130,000 wafer starts a month on Micron's 50nm at its 12-inch fabs, according to Meikle.
Prior to Inotera, Meikle served as fab manager at Micron Japan. When asked whether Micron would upgrade its 8-inch fab in Japan, Meikle said there will be no change to the facility in the short term. Micron Japan focuses on niche memory chips for customized products, differing from Inotera's specialty in commodity DRAM, he added.
In response to Samsung's recently-unveiled capacity expansion plans, Meikle said he believes Samsung is making the move in line with strong demand coming from both PC and consumer electronics sectors. But Micron will stay focused on R&D and development of advanced processes, Meikle noted.
Micron president Mark Durcan, in a recent report, said demand for computer memory looks robust this year though major players are investing billions of dollars to increase production. Rising demand would absorb much of suppliers' production growth, Durcan said.