Winbond to Join in Fujitsu-Toshiba DRAM Development Program

8 May, 2000


Fujitsu Limited
Toshiba Corporation
Winbond Electronics Corp.

Tokyo-- Fujitsu Limited and Toshiba Corporation today announced that Winbond Electronics Corp. will join their collaborative development program for next-generation memory devices. Begun in January 1999, the 30-plus-billion-yen project has pursued development of 0.13μm DRAM technology for next-generation ULSIs. With Winbond's participation in this program, development will be extended to cover 0.11μm DRAM process technology. The companies aim to fabricate a 0.13μm stacked 1giga-bit (Gb) DRAM by the end of 2001, and follow up with a 0.11μm 1Gb DRAM by the end of 2002.

While DRAMs remain a key product, both in their own right and as a technology driver, intense price competition has eroded profit levels for manufacturers in recent years. Recognizing that future competitiveness lies in early breakthroughs supporting finer levels of process technology, Fujitsu, Toshiba and Winbond, technology leaders in DRAM, decided to collaborate in developing 0.13 and 0.11μm-level process technology and the 1Gb generations of DRAM they can support. Moreover, the companies believe that any joint advances in major DRAM technologies may also find applications in System LSIs, microprocessors and a wide range of other semiconductor areas beyond memory devices.

Under the agreement announced today, approximately 30 Winbond engineers will join the 100 Toshiba and Fujitsu engineers already engaged in development work at Toshiba's Advanced Microelectronics Center (AMC) in Yokohama. They will participate in development of 0.13 and 0.11μm process and device technology, including design and trial production of 1Gb DRAM.

The participation of Winbond in the project will bring additional resources to bear on achieving technical advances, and will shorten the development term and enhance the program through a broader sharing of development costs and resources that reduces the overall burden on each participant. This collaboration project reflects the three companies' on-going commitment to developing advanced LSI technologies and supports their company's strategic initiative to expand technology efforts.

About Fujitsu Limited

Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) is a leading provider of Internet-based information technology solutions for the global marketplace. Comprising over 500 group companies and affiliates worldwide -- including ICL, Amdahl and DMR Consulting Group -- it had consolidated revenues of 5.26 trillion yen ($49.6 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2000. Fujitsu's pace-setting technologies, world-class computing and telecommunications platforms, and global corps of over 60,000 systems and services experts make it uniquely positioned to harness the power of the Internet to help its customers succeed. Altogether, the Fujitsu Group has 188,000 employees and operations in over 100 countries.
Home page:http://www.fujitsu.co.jp/en/

Press Contacts:

Isao Hirano, Bob Pomeroy, Scott Ikeda
Fujitsu Limited, Public Relations
Tel: +81-3-3215-5236 (Tokyo)
Fax: +81-3-3216-9365
e-mail: pr_mailbox@hq.fujitsu.co.jp

About Toshiba Corporation

Toshiba Corporation is a leader in information and communications systems, electronic components, consumer products, and power systems. The company's integration of these wide-ranging capabilities assures its position as a leading company in semiconductor, LCD and other electronic devices. Toshiba has 198,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of over $50 (US) billion. Visit Toshiba's website at http://www.toshiba.co.jp

Press Contacts:

Kenichi Sugiyama
Toshiba Corporation Corporate Communications Office
Tel: +81-3-3457-2105
Fax: +81-3-5444-9202
e-mail: press@toshiba.co.jp

About Winbond Electronics Corp.

Winbond Electronics Corporation is the largest branded IC company in Taiwan. Winbond's product portfolio covers PC and peripheral-related ICs, consumer electronics ICs, multimedia ICs, non-volatile memory and DRAMs. Winbond has a leading position in Taiwan and East Asia in telephone dialers, PC I/O controllers, speech synthesizers and MPEG decoders. Winbond has four wafer fabs in operation, with current technologies up to 0.175μm. Winbond also provides certain wafer capacity to serve foundry customers. Winbond is based in Hsinchu Science-Based Park, Taiwan, and has sales offices in Taipei, Hong Kong and San Jose, California. World Wide Web home page: http://www.winbond.com.tw.

Press Contacts:

Hander Chang
Spokesman, Winbond Electronics Corporation,
Tel: +886-3-5665660
Fax: +886-3-5796160
e-mail: cychang@winbond.com.tw


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