2002/05/02
Munich/Germany, Taoyuen/Taiwan, May 2, 2002 - Following successful cooperation talks, Infineon Technologies (FSE/NYSE: IFX), Munich, and Nanya Technology Cor-poration (NTC), Taoyuen/Taiwan, have signed a non-binding Memorandum of Un-derstanding (MoU) about a cooperation on standard memory chips (DRAMs). Under the terms of the agreement, the two semiconductor manufacturers will co-develop the advanced 0.09-micron and 0.07-micron production technologies for 300mm wafers starting October 2002, sharing the development costs. The companies have also agreed to set up a 50:50 joint venture for the production of DRAM chips and to build a new joint 300mm facility in Taiwan. The first 300mm wafers will already be pro-duced at the end of 2003, and in the first stage production should reach a capacity of approximately 20,000 wafer starts per month by the second half of 2004. The joint venture will be based in Taoyuen, Taiwan, close to Nanya's current production facility. The transaction still requires approval by the antitrust authorities.
"With this MoU we are systematically expanding the cooperation with Taiwanese partners. We are resolutely strengthening our position in Asia and increasing our share in the worldwide market for memory chips", explained Dr. Ulrich Schumacher, President and CEO of Infineon Technologies AG. "Nanya is an ideal partner for us as we both operate on the same technological base. Together we will develop future production processes on the basis of our leading 300mm technology and build an innovative 300mm semiconductor factory in Taiwan. This will enable us to extend our technology and cost leadership."
"Our cooperation with Infineon represents a major step toward the combination of both company's strength in the trench DRAM technology development and manufac-turing", said Dr. Jih Lien, President of Nanya Technology.
The two companies will jointly develop the new 0.09-micron and 0.07-micron produc-tion technology at Infineon's Dresden plant and also use it in the new joint venture facility. Production of 300mm wafers using the new 0.09-micron process will start in the new joint plant in Taoyuan at the end of 2003. Furthermore it is planned to deploy the 0.09-micron production technology also for 200mm wafers. The basis for the joint development of the future production technology is the advanced DRAM trench tech-nology for 300mm wafers from Infineon, which the company is licensing to Nanya. Infineon was the first company worldwide to start volume production of 300mm tech-nology at the end of last year at its Dresden reference facility. The switch to the smaller 0.09-micron and 0.07-micron geometries in chip design will enable a further boost in productivity.