Elpida and ProMOS Signed Agreement for DRAM Foundry Services

Elpida Memory, Inc. and ProMOS Technologies announced today the signing of a DRAM foundry agreement. This agreement marks the beginning of mutually beneficial business cooperation.

According to the agreement, Elpida will provide advanced DRAM process and product technologies to ProMOS, while ProMOS will provide certain amount of manufacturing capacity at ProMOS' Taichung 300mm wafer fab to Elpida for the manufacturing of Elpida's advanced 1Gb DDR3 device. Trial runs will be completed in the first half of 2010, with mass production following in the second half of the same year.

Dr. M. L. Chen, President & Chairman of ProMOS Technologies, noted that Elpida has long been globally recognized as a leader in the development of leading edge DRAM technologies. The synergistic partnership built through this agreement will combine strengths from both companies; Elpida's 1Gb DDR3 device is among the most cost-competitive product in the industry, pairing well with ProMOS' strength in 300mm manufacturing. Dr. Chen further noted that through this agreement, ProMOS will be able to rapidly increase its capacity utilization rate at its Taichung 300mm facilities. With the recent turnaround in the DRAM market, ProMOS has embarked on the road to recovery.

"We are very pleased to enter into this foundry agreement with ProMOS," said Yukio Sakamoto, President and CEO of Elpida Memory. "We are confident that the combination of Elpida's advanced technology and ProMOS's highly-efficient, large-scale DRAM manufacturing capabilities will enable an outstanding supply of high-performance and high-quality DRAM products."