newsbytes@clarinet.com (02/04/90)
TOKYO, JAPAN 1990 JAN 29 (NB) -- To finance and hasten development of highly integrated computer memory chips, collaborative ventures among American, European and Japanese makers are popping up around the world. The king of one-megabit DRAMs -- Toshiba -- and U.S.-based Motorola will start the production of four-megabit DRAMs at their venture, Tohoku Semiconductor, in 1991. Meanwhile, Intel has ensured its own supply of memory chips by cooperating with NMB Semiconductor. The firms have agreed to establish a joint-venture called Intel/NMBS DRAM Fabrications, in Santa Clara, California, to resell the NMBS-made memory chips under the name Intel. NMBS is reportedly going to provide all its output to Intel rather than its mother firm Minebea. To create next generation 16-megabit and future 64-megabit general purpose memory chips, the industry is expected to continue the collaboration. The couples in the DRAM race are now Hitachi and Texas Instruments, IBM and Siemens of West Germany, and Mitsubishi Electric which is expected to tie up with AT&T. (Naoyuki Yazawa/19900201)