March 20, 2006 – Elpida Memory Inc. plans to more than double production capacity for DRAM chips used in cell phones by year’s end, in order to tap into a small but competitively wide-open niche market, according to the Nikkei Business Daily. Elpida also plans to reduce its mix of DRAM chips made for PCs, a slower-growth market hampered by pricing and competitive pressures.
The company currently maintains about 54,000 300mm wafer/month output at its subsidiary Hiroshima Elpida Memory Inc., and plans to hike output for cell phone DRAMs from 10,000-15,000 wafers/month to about 30,000 wafers/month, focusing on larger-capacity (512Mb) chips utilizing 90nm process technologies.