TOKYO: Eleven of Japan's major semiconductor makers, including Hitachi Ltd.
and NEC Corp, are investigating a possible joint company to produce
next-generation chips, Japanese media said on Sunday.
Quoting sources close to the issue, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily
(Nikkei) said the project, the first of its kind, could start building a plant
to produce next-generation chips as early as next year.
Although Japanese chipmakers have tied up in technological development
before, this would be the first such agreement involving production. Through the
project, the firms -- which also include Mitsubishi Electric Corp, Toshiba Corp,
Fujitsu Ltd., Oki Electric Industry Co and Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co
-- would aim to cut plant construction costs, estimated at around 200 billion
yen ($1.52 billion), the Nikkei said.
Confirmation of the report from the firms involved was not immediately
available. Details of the project, including the investment to be made by each
company and the final number of firms to take part, would be worked out through
negotiations beginning as early as next spring, it quoted the sources as saying.
Japanese chipmakers are battered by huge losses, making it difficult to come
up with the funds necessary to match investment being made in next-generation
chips by rivals in the United States and South Korea. The new plant would
produce chips with a line width of 0.10 micron or less for the participating
companies, with production focusing on system chips with large data processing
capacity for use in digital televisions and communications equipment, the Nikkei
said.
It quoted the sources as saying that the companies would sell chips produced
by the plant under their own brand names.
(C) Reuters Limited.