Japan's Elpida to build $4.6 bln plant
 

Plans world's largest DRAM plant in Japan - reports

By Osamu Tsukimori, CBS MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:31 AM ET Jun 9, 2004

TOKYO (CBS.MW) - Elpida Memory, a joint venture of Japan's NEC and Hitachi, will invest about 500 billion yen ($4.59 billion) to build the world's biggest dynamic random access memory (DRAM) plant in western Japan, according to published reports.

Elpida scheduled a news conference Thursday afternoon to talk about its plan to build a DRAM plant, but a company spokeswoman declined to comment further.

The world's sixth-biggest DRAM maker will make the investments over the next three years through 2007 at its plant in Hiroshima Prefecture to meet an anticipated surge in demand for DRAM chips used in digital home electronics and mobile phones, the reports said.

The company, which had a market share of 4.3 percent last year, aims to ultimately raise monthly production of 60,000 300mm wafers, reports said.

Samsung Electronics (SSNGY) is the market leader with 28.6 percent market share and Micron Technology (MU) had a 19.1 percent market share, according to iSuppli.

Elpida is a 50-50 joint venture between the two Japanese electronics giants.

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Japanese economy is coming back!!