Taiwan Memory Co., the company being formed by the government to reorganize the island's semiconductor industry, is not considering merging with local chipmakers, Economic Affairs Minister Yiin Chii-ming said. The new company may buy factories from the local chipmakers, Yiin said yesterday in Taipei.
Taiwan's government last week announced a proposal to combine six domestic chipmakers under a state-led holding company to help them recover from the computer-memory industry's longest contraction in more than a decade. Taiwan Memory may merge with Japan's Elpida Memory Inc. or U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc. to obtain patents and intellectual properties, Yiin said at the time.
Yiin reiterated comments yesterday that the company may receive no more than NT$30 billion (US$870 million) in state funds.