Underlining the way in which the computer and microelectronics industries are changing as product cycles shorten and companies need fast access to increasingly expensive in-house chip production facilities on an irregular basis, Hewlett-Packard Co, Texas Instruments Inc and Canon Inc are joining forces with the Singapore Economic Development Board to establish a $330m wafer fabrication plant that will make dynamic RAMs as its core activity but will be switchable to fabrication of advanced logic circuits when needed. Texas and the Singapore state body, which was keen to bring in wafer fabrication capability so that locally- based firms would have a secure source of supply of memory chips, will each hold 26% and Texas will have the option to buy out the board’s stake in due course. The other two partners will each have a 24% holding.
