Hiroshima Elpida began construction of a new facility to house the expanded line in June 2004. As scheduled, construction was completed in June 2005, and was followed by the installation of clean rooms and production equipment, as well as several test-runs of factory operations. In FY Q2, the E300 Fab started an average of 30,000 wafers per month. In November 2005, the E300 Fab handled 45,000 wafers per month, and during December 2005, volume is expected to increase to 50,000 wafers per month. Wafer output will likely contribute to shipments starting in 4Q of the current fiscal year ending March 31.
"Our first lot of wafers for mass production of DRAM using advanced 90 nm process technology started on October 17, 2005," said Shuichi Otsuka, president of Hiroshima Elpida. "Our initial ramp has been extremely smooth and successful, and each day we are seeing an increase in the number of wafers processed."
Production yield based on Elpida's 90 nm process technology has been outstanding since the start of mass production, and Elpida intends to have advanced 90 nm process technology account for approximately 70% of total monthly production at the E300 Fab within this fiscal year. Given the synergistic benefits from increased production at E300 and from the migration to 90 nm process, Elpida's shipment volumes during the first half of FY 2006 now have the ability to increase significantly. As a result, Elpida is well-positioned to provide a steady supply of DRAM products to the market in support of greater demand for memory.
For an overview of Elpida Memory's 300 mm wafer line, please see the attachment.
About Elpida Memory, Inc.
Elpida Memory, Inc. is a manufacturer of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) silicon chips with headquarters based in Tokyo, Japan, and sales and marketing operations located in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia. Elpida's state-of-the-art semiconductor wafer manufacturing facilities are located in Hiroshima, Japan. Elpida offers a broad range of leading-edge DRAM products for high-end servers, mobile phones, digital television sets and digital cameras as well as personal computers. Elpida had sales of 207.0 Yen billion during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2005. For more information, visit www.elpida.com.
The information contained within this news release is current as of the date of release. Please note that the information herein may be revised later without prior notice.
Attachment
Overview of Hiroshima Elpida Memory 300 mm Wafer Line
Construction site: Hiroshima Elpida Memory, Inc. (on existing company grounds)
Start of construction of expanded line: June 2004
Completion of construction of expanded line (building): June 2005
Start of mass production following line expansion: October 2005
Processing capacity: 45,000 wafers/month (Nov. 2005), 54,000 wafers/month (planned as of FY 2005 4Q)
Company placing construction order: Hiroshima Elpida Memory, Inc.
Designer & builder: Obayashi Corporation
Contact:
Elpida Memory, Inc. (Japan) Tomoko Kobayashi, +81-3-3281-1648 Email Contact or Elpida Memory (Europe) GmbH. (Germany) Peter Westerdorf, 0049 (0)211 23945120 Email Contact or Lee Communications -- PR for Elpida Memory (USA) Inc. Heather Roberts, 408-288-8681 Email Contact
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