Japan’s largest semiconductor maker, NEC Corp has buckled in the face of the prevailing conditions in the market and is cutting DRAM production targets and investment in semiconductor plants. Until now, NEC was one of the only major manufacturers to maintain full scale DRAM production (CI No 3,441). Nikkei Microdevices reports that the company is to cut 16Mb DRAM production from the current monthly figure of 6 million units to 4 million by the end of the year and 2 million soon after. NEC will also put the brake on 64Mb production. Output levels will increase from 8 million units to 10 million units by December, but the planned jump to 12 million units in the spring of 1999 will not now be undertaken. The company had planned to invest $1.24bn in semiconductor plants this fiscal year but will now revise that figure down to $1bn.
