Faced with oversupply and falling prices, Motorola Inc is withdrawing from the Dynamic RAM market. The decision, it says, is consistent with its new focus on integrated systems in high- growth markets. Semiconductor Products sector president Hector Ruiz claimed the decision would have no impact on employment or long-term relationships, particularly Toshiba Corp and Siemens AG. Motorola has a joint venture with Toshiba producing 16Mb drams and other devices in Sendai, Japan, and began work with Siemens on a joint DRAM manufacturing site at White Oak, Richmond, Virginia, due to go into production next year. Both partnerships will continue, but the Toshiba venture will shift towards logic products, and Motorola will use its share of the Siemens facility for fast, static RAMs. Motorola says it has purposefully maintained a limited participation in the DRAM market, and has had a market share of less than 2% for the last three years.
