Qimonda will build a 12-inch fab in Asia, with Taiwan, China and Singapore being possible locations for the fab, according to Daniel Wong , President of Qimonda Asia Pacific.

Judging from its present capacity from in-house facilities, join-ventures, and outsourcing partners, Qimonda does not feel pressure to expand its capacity by 2008, Wong said.

As building a 12-inch fab will take about one and a half years, Qimonda thinks it advisable to build its first overseas 12-inch fab as a guarantee of its share of the DRAM market in the future, Wong said, noting that Qimonda will make a final decision on the 12-inch fab project by the end of 2007.

The choice of the site will take into consideration tax incentives offered by respective governments, market and human resources, and domestic support for back-end production, Wong noted. But he stressed that tax incentives will be the most crucial factor.

Qimonda already has 12-inch output in Taiwan from Inotera Memories, its joint-venture with Nanya Technology.

Nanya spokesman Pei-lin Pai said it is natural for Qimonda to build its own 12-inch fab in Asia, because Nanya and Qimonda have already jointly invested considerable sums in R&D, and capacity expansion will be necessary to make the investments more cost-efficient.

Pai said Inotera is an important source of production for both Qimonda and Nanya, and even if Inotera can build a 12-inch fab every two years, its capacity and profits will still be shared between Qimonda and Nanya.

Having their own 12-inch facilities will be necessary for makers who are looking for more capacity and profits, Pai commented.

Inotera president Charles Kau said as the company's capacity is shared by its parent companies, Qimonda's 12-inch fab plan will not affect Inotera's own expansion plans.

Sources in Taiwan's DRAM sector said it is that Qimonda is not likely to choose Taiwan as the site for the 12-inch fab because it already has 12-inch output from Inotera and from its outsourced manufacturing partner Winbond Electronics.

By: DocMemory
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