June 27, 2007 – Qimonda AG and Taiwan’s Winbond Electronics Corp. have extended their DRAM foundry agreement, under which Qimonda will transfer 75nm and 58nm DRAM trench technology to Winbond’s 300mm facility in Taichung, Taiwan.

Winbond will make the DRAMs exclusively for Qimonda, but will be able to use the 58nm process technology to develop proprietary specialty memories, for which Qimonda will receive license fees and royalties. The Taipei Times notes that Winbond will produce ~10,000 wafers/month at the site using Qimonda’s 75nm technology starting in mid-2008, adding that 50%-60% of the company’s sales come from Qimonda.

The two firms started producing 110nm and 90nm DRAM back in 2002 utilizing Winbond’s Taichung fab and a 200mm facility in Hsinchu; that partnership was widened last summer to include 80nm technology.

Late last year, DRAM supplier Winbond bought an ownership stake in South Korean fabless firm EMLSI, a developer of random-access memory chips for mobile phones, seeking ways to apply technology licensed from Qimonda to produce some of its own niche RAM chips in mobile phones and other electronics, noted the Taiwan Economic News.