- Bank of England Faces Tough Decision on Stimulus
- BNP Paribas Quarterly Profit Surges, Tops Forecast
- House Democrats Clear the Way for Health Care Vote
- US Senate Votes to Extend Jobless, Housing Aid
- Cisco CEO: Tech Sector Hit Bottom, Recovery Under Way
- Fed to Maintain Low Rates Even as Economy Recovers
- Look Ahead: Choppy Trade Likely, Cisco to Boost Techs
- Hyatt Hotels Prices IPO at $25 Per Share
- BofA's Consumer Bank Chief Says Keen on CEO Job
MOST SHARED
- Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway May Lose Only Remaining AAA Credit Rating
- Rock Band Weezer Uses Snuggie to Promote New Album
- 'DWI Chair' Up for Auction on eBay After La-Z-Boy Protests
- Napier: The New Edge in Tech
- Pace of Layoffs, Planned Job Cuts Both Show Decline
- Spotlight on Economy, Fed
- Gold Spells Trouble for Greenback: Charts
- The World's Most Secretive Tax Havens
- Volcker on the Economy
- Lack of Paid Sick Days May Worsen Flu Pandemic
Text Size 
Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory said on Wednesday it plans to raise its stake in a Taiwan venture with Powerchip Semiconductor to 71 percent by the year's end in exchange for debt forgiveness.
 |
As a first step, Elpida, which is chasing sector leaders Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor, on Tuesday raised its stake in the PC memory chip production venture, Rexchip, to 64 percent from 52 percent after Powerchip failed to pay back a short-term loan from Elpida.
Elpida, which is battling with U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology [MU
Loading...
()
] to be the world's No.3 DRAM maker, had lent an undisclosed amount to Powerchip, with the loan backed by a 19 percent stake in Rexchip. The Nikkei business daily said the loan was worth a little more than 10 billion yen ($111 million).
Loss-making Elpida, which is itself heavily indebted, plans to take control of management at Rexchip as it gauges the timing for raising output there of smaller and more power-efficient dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips.
The move is unlikely to have a significant impact on its earnings, Elpida said in a statement.
Elpida, which is fighting to keep up as bigger rivals invest in new technologies, plans to build a research and development center in Taiwan with Taiwan's state-backed Taiwan Memory, the Nikkei also said. Elpida spokesman Hiroshi Tsuboi said that nothing was decided.
Last month, Elpida secured 110 billion yen in loans from its banks and raised another 60 billion yen from investors to help pay back its mounting debt and invest in new technologies.
Its shares were down 0.7 percent at 1,212 yen, compared with a 1.7 percent fall in Tokyo's electrical machinery index.
- The Oracle of Omaha is placing his bets on these 15 stocks, the biggest holdings of Berkshire Hathaway.
- The mass of man-made debris orbiting the Earth is dramatically increasing the risk of space collisions.
- Here are the world's most secretive tax havens, according to the Tax Justice Network.
- The Apple App Store's market dominance reaches a new milestone: 100,000 apps now available.
- A Harvard professor’s unusual confectionary is blowing away chocolatiers in Paris.
- One MIT graduate thinks you probably don’t smile enough, and she has invented a painful device to take care of that problem.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes