April 18, 2006 – Three of Taiwan’s top DRAM memory producers have raised substantial amounts of cash this year — about $4.6 billion collectively — to support immediate capacity expansions, according to the Taiwan Economic News.

ProMOS Technology Inc. has approved a plan to issue about $250-$312 million worth of American Depository Receipts (ADR) to expand its 300mm fab in central Taiwan, slated to double output to 20,000 wafers/month this quarter. The company, which has raised about $468 million so far this year, recently increased capitalization to $2.8 billion, and projected it would reverse a small loss to a profit in the current quarter, next year and start pilot production of NAND flash chips on 110nm processes at its Fab 2 and Fab 3 facilities in 1H07.

Meanwhile, PowerChip Semiconductor Corp. has raised about $460 million through its own issuance of ADRs, increasing capitalization, and floating Euro-convertible bonds. Funds will go toward expanding output at Fab 12B to 45,000 wafers/month, build and tool Fab 12C, and pay off another 300mm facility recently purchased from Macronix.

Nanya Technology Corp., which has raised about $312 million so far this year, projects 300mm wafer output of 70,000 wafers/month by the end of next year, once a 300mm line at affiliate Inotera Memories comes online — Nanya’s first in-house 300mm line, and Inotera’s second such facility. The company had decided to raise funds by issuing global depository receipts or increasing capital.