April 3, 2007 – Elpida Memory Inc. now plans to produce as much as 80% of DRAMs made at its Hiroshima site with 70nm process technology by year’s end, up from previous estimates of about 50%, note Japanese news reports.

The Hiroshima site, which just started shipping 1GB and 512MB memory chips in March and is set to ship a 70nm low-power DRAM (512MB) for cell phones next month, had been projected to reach about 20% mix of the process by the end of September, raising that ratio to around half of chips produced by year’s end. By this summer Elpida plans to add the 70nm process to its Taiwan facility to make DRAM chips for PCs and servers, the reports note.

Moving from 90nm to 70nm means Elpida can make 60% more chips from each wafer, helping reduce costs to better compete with Taiwan and Korean DRAM manufacturers. The 70nm chips also use 40% less operating current and generate less heat, notes the Nikkei Business Daily.