Mitsubishi Electric Co is the latest memory chipmaker to be approached by Intel Corp with investment proposals – but has declined the offer, at least for the present. Although Mitsubishi Electric was approached by Intel Corporation with regard to possible financing measures for production-related investments, we declined due to the fact that we are able to achieve our current production plan with our present capital investment levels. The company said in an official statement, however, no decisions have been made regarding the possibility of entering into such arrangements in the future. Intel has already made investments in Micron Technology Ltd and Samsung Electronics Co, and is rumored to have also approached Hyundai Ltd, Toshiba Corp and NEC Corp. Mitsubishi announced sample 72- megabit Direct Rambus DRAM discrete ICs, and 72 and 144-megabyte memory modules last September, using 0.25 micron process technology. At the time it was predicting that volume supplies would be available in the second quarter of this year, depending on market requirements. Intel’s 802 Camino chipset supporting Direct Rambus RDRM is also expected in the second quarter. Intel, which faced the task of moving the industry from 66MHz to 100MHz SDRAM last year, said it was on track to introduce Direct Rambus DRAM onto the market in 1999, and would be giving a public update on its Rambus strategy at the Intel Developer Forum in Palm Springs, California, beginning February 22.