Cheaper RAM prices may be on the way.

[Ulfwald]

RAM may become cheaper

 

[fdiskboy]

Strictly from that article, it won't even make an impression on RAM prices until late 2002 at the very earliest. Don't get too excited.

 

[blurredvision]

Could someone paste some of that text into a reply. Can't get to that site because of the proxy here at work. Thanks. Sounds like a good read.

 

[fdiskboy]

NEC and Hitachi DRAM Up Production
>>> November.28.2000

Electronics giants NEC and Hitachi announced today that they are partnering in the construction of a new $1.45 billion memory chip plant. The jointly owned plant will produce 0.13 micron 256MB DRAM chips.

Hoping to capture a larger portion of the DRAM market, NEC and Hitachi merged their semiconductor divisions last year to form Elpida Memory Inc., which will run the new plant.Reuters quoted Elpida president Kenji Tokuyama as saying: "We aim to raise our share of the global DRAM market to 20 percent from the current 13 percent by building our own factories."

Though Elpida is expected to raise the money to fund the plant, both NEC and Hitachi will invest at least 10 billion yen each to help Elpida purchase production equipment.

Elpida's factory will be built on the site of NEC's current Hiroshima DRAM facility next January and is expected to begin volume production of the DRAM chips in April 2002. According to Tokuyama, the plant will initially produce 3,000 300mm wafers per month, rising to a maximum capacity of 20,000 wafers per month.


There's the press release.