Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Fujitsu Ltd last week opened what they claim is the world’s largest facility for the production of Flash memories, in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan. At full production, the partners look for the $750m plant to produce more than 5,000 8 wafers a week using 0.5 micron design rules. Fujitsu-AMD Semiconductor Ltd was established last year, and is claimed to be the largest collaborative effort between a US and Japanese semiconductor company to date, implying that it outranks the big Motorola Inc-Toshiba Corp joint venture. Its first production products are 16M-bits and volume production will start by year end, ships in first quarter 1995. The joint venture is 50.05% owned by Fujitsu, 49.95% by Advanced Micro.
