The People’s Republic of China has taken two steps forward in its efforts to upgrade its electronics capability: Hyundai Electronics Industries Co Ltd of Seoul, South Korea announced plans to invest $24m to build a semiconductor assembly factory in Shanghai to take advantage of cheap local labour. To be completed in January, it will assemble 30m dynamic RAMs a year. And the state-run steel company, China Steel Corp is to form a $180m joint venture with MEMC Electronic Materials Inc to make silicon wafers from early 1997. The US company will hold 45%, China Steel 35% and two Taiwanese state-run financing firms the rest.
