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Infineon breaks up with ProMos
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Tuesday, December 10, 2002
Infineon Technologies is breaking off all dealings with its Taiwan joint venture, ProMOS Technologies, because of unresolved disagreements with its Taiwan partner in the venture, Mosel-Vitelic, Inc.
Infineon said Tuesday that it will stop buying DRAM chips from ProMOS as of January 1, 2003, and will not transfer any more technology to the venture beyond .11 micron. It may, however, not even go that far if it can find a way to extract itself from an existing technology agreement.
Infineon has a 30 percent stake in ProMOS, which it will sell as soon as possible, but it buys about 40 percent of the chips produced there. Mosel, which owns a 37 percent stake, and Promos sell the rest. ProMOS runs one of the world's first 12-inch wafer fabs, as well an 8-inch facility, and accounts for about 10 percent to 15 percent of Infineon's output.
Like many DRAM makers, Mosel has been leaking money in the sour market for DRAM chips. The catalyst for the split comes from Mosel's use of shares in the joint venture as collateral for bonds, which come due in 2003. “Despite repeated efforts by Infineon, the parties were not able to find a mutually acceptable solution,” Infineon said in a statement, adding that it could not “trust” Mosel.
A spokesman for Mosel did not return calls seeking comment. A Singapore-based Infineon spokeswoman said that the company would withdraw about 30 engineers form ProMOS, but said no timeline had been set. She also indicated that ProMOS may not be able to sell products that are made using Infineon's process technology now that the two have broken up, which could severely cripple ProMOS's production.
ProMOS has rejected that notion. “We have retained quite a number of lawyers,” said a ProMOS spokesman, and “we have the right” to sell products based on Infineon's technology as long as licensing payments continue, he added.
By: DocMemory
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