October 12, 2001 – Taipei, Taiwan – Winbond Electronics Corp. is postponing its plan to build a 300mm silicon wafer fab, according to The Financial Times. The company insists that it will not cancel the plan, but will concentrate on developing good products with existing facilities.

Winbond is the second semiconductor company to shelve a 300mm silicon wafer plant; Nanya Technology announced a postponement earlier.

Chiao Yu-chun, chairman of Winbond, said whether the company will move ahead with the plan to build the new plant with capital investment of NT$120 billion will hinge on if Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan, will withdraw from the DRAM market. Toshiba is the partner that provides technical know-how to Winbond.

Another major factor for the postponement is the glutton DRAM market caused by overexpansion by semiconductor companies.

Chiao said the strategy for now is to concentrate all resources on developing good products and to stick to them instead of continuously expanding production capacity.

In order to cope with the business slowdown, Winbond plans to trim its work force by laying off and adjusting positions held by employees. No details were disclosed.

Yu-chun insists that the delay does not mean the investment project is scrapped. Winbond will continue holding the land at a military site in Hsinchu County for the purpose of constructing the new plant.

He also revealed that Winbond plans to place greater resources in the development and production of products like SoC.