Since late last year, several DRAM makers have begun requesting that testing houses cut their DDR2 memory testing times by 20-40% amid cost concerns, according to sources. With the growing maturity of the DDR2 market, makers did not see the justification for extended memory testing times, which add a US$0.6-0.8 price premium for testing DDR2, compared with testing DDR, the sources explained.

Elpida Memory took the initiative by asking for a 40% decrease in the testing time, with local Taiwan players including Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation (PSC) and ProMOS Technologies following suit. These players have requested that the related testing times be reduced to 300-400 seconds, down from 500-600 seconds.

Local Taiwan testing houses commented that they are not worried about decreased utilization rates due to the requests. Currently, their DDR2 utilization rates remain full and any reduction in testing time would release some capacity to fulfill other memory testing orders. Some makers mentioned that idle capacity could be allotted to the substantial DDR testing demand from Hynix Semiconductor.

With memory makers continuing to expand the production scale at their 12-inch fabs, testing houses are not worried about pricing pressure, as continued ramping of output should help maintain stable prices.

By: DocMemory
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