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Japan's Elpida secures lifeline with $1.7 billion aid
Tue Jun 30, 2009 6:47am EDT
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By Mayumi Negishi
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan pledged to shore up Elpida Memory Inc (6665.T) with public money, bringing the total aid expected to come to the loss-making chip maker to $1.7 billion as it struggles to compete with its larger South Korean rivals.
With an injection of 30 billion yen ($313 million) from the state-backed Development Bank of Japan, Elpida will become the first Japanese firm to get aid under a scheme that makes public funds available to businesses hit by the global financial crisis.
Besides 100 billion yen in loans from its banks, the aid package includes a possible 20 billion yen capital injection from Taiwan Memory Company, which was set up by Taiwan to save its own chip sector and had chosen Elpida as a technology partner.
Elpida is Japan's last hope in PC memory chips in an industry dominated by Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and Hynix Semiconductor Inc (000660.KS).
Elpida lost the No 3. slot to U.S. chipmaker Micron Technologies (MU.N) in January-March.
Years of price slides and weak consumer demand have hammered the sector, dragging DRAM makers into the red and forcing Germany's Qimonda (QMNDQ.PK) to file for insolvency this year. Elpida reported a record operating loss of 147 billion yen in the year ended March 31.
"This ensures that Elpida will survive, but can it win?" said Yoshihiro Shimada, chief analyst at research firm SPI Analysis. "That depends on how quickly it can catch up to its competition in shrinking its chips."
Elpida, which posted its sixth straight quarterly loss in January-March, has fallen behind Samsung in using smaller circuitry on its DRAM chips, which are mainly used to power PCs.
Smaller circuitry on semiconductors allows makers to pack more power onto smaller chips and lower per-chip costs, but it also yields more chips per wafer and exacerbates oversupply.
Elpida said it would use the funds to shrink chips and expand output of advanced DRAM chips at its Hiroshima plant in southwest Japan to cut costs by 20 percent.
If Elpida upgrades its production technology, "that would be bad news for Korean makers which have benefited from price competitiveness with cutting-edge production lines," said Song Myung-sup, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities in Seoul.
Elpida will cement ties with Taiwanese makers, Elpida Chief Executive Yukio Sakamoto said, adding that TMC is considering taking a 10 percent stake in Elpida, while Elpida is also considering a stake in TMC.
"The last battle in the DRAM sector is starting," forcing further consolidation, he said at a news conference.
Elpida's shares ended up 1.4 percent, having risen more than 60 percent over the past three months, helped by media reports on the government aid and its tie-up with TMC. The benchmark Nikkei average .N225 has added about 20 percent over the same period.
Elpida's shares tumbled nearly 90 percent in 2008. Continued...
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