NEC Corp is to become the first company to fabricate advanced memory chips in China, although with the cost of the line to make 4M-bit parts put at only $114m, it sounds as if NEC is dismantling an existing 0.7 micron line in Japan and rebuilding it in China. Work starts next month at the Shougang-NEC Electronics Co joint venture between NEC and Shougang Corp. The venture’s capital would be increased to $152m from $82.6m and NEC would take 51%, up from 40%.The line will produce 5,000 6 wafers a month; the existing 1.2 micron line does 3,000 wafers a month. The joint venture is also planning to raise assembly of 4Ms to 6.7m a month by 1997 from 4.2m now, and start assembling 16M-bit parts in July.
