Taiwan-based DRAM maker Powerchip Technology reportedly is considering adopting epitaxial wafers if supplies of wafers by major producers such as Shin-Etsu Handotai remain disrupted for a prolonged period of time, according to industry sources.
Epi-wafers are produced in wafer diameters up to 8-inch, which means that Powerchip would have to switch back to above-50nm processes to make DRAM chips.
In response, Powerchip only said that the company will revise its production and sales plans to counter the potential impact of Japan's earthquake on its supply chain.
Powerchip currently makes chips using Elpida Memory's stack design. The company previously said that its smooth transition to a 40nm-class process has allowed a substantial ramp-up in production for 2Gb DRAM.
Rexchip Electronics, Powerchip's DRAM-manufacturing joint venture with Elpida, had converted all of its chip production to Elpida's 40nm-class node technology at the end of 2010. Rexchip supplies almost 70% of total production to Elpida and the remainder to Powerchip based on their holdings in the company.
Elpida outsources most of its standard DRAM production to Rexchip and ProMOS Technologies. The Japan-based vendor is also looking to finalize a DRAM foundry agreement with Powerchip. Earlier in 2011, Powerchip revealed plans to shift all of its commodity DRAM capacity to Elpida on an OEM basis in a move to transform its business into a foundry model.
Previous reports cited industry sources as estimating that DRAM manufacturers currently have one to two months' worth of wafer supplies on hand, and it is unlikely that the earthquake will have a short-term effect on their production.