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According to a report on Sunday, Hynix Semiconductor is planning to produce 66-nano DRAM chips in Taiwan through ProMOS Technologies, its Taiwanese strategic business partner. The report also confirmed that Hynix is already producing the same chips at a factory in Wuxi, China that it set up jointly with that nation's STMicro.
The company may be in for some troubles with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy over the technology. That's because the 60-nano level production process has been successfully mass produced only by Hynix and Samsung Electronics, and the Industrial Technology Drain Prevention Act, which recently went into effect, designates less than 80-nano semiconductor technology as a core technology that needs government protection.
A Hynix executive said Sunday that the company is working with ProMOS to produce 66-nano products. Hynix, the world's second largest memory chip maker, established a strategic partnership with the Taiwanese foundry company in 2003 and is currently producing 80-nano DRAM at its Taiwan factory.
The Korean semiconductor company has also been producing 66-nano chips since last month at its joint plant in Wuxi, which started operation last year. Hynix has moved its production to China and Taiwan to reduce costs and to avoid tariffs imposed on its products by the E.U. and the U.S. because they consider the company's bailout by Korean banks in the early 2000s a government subsidy.
Under the Industrial Technology Drain Prevention Act, Hynix is required to notify the government that it has provided the 66-nano technology to ProMOS. If the Commerce Ministry decides that exporting the technology poses a serious threat to Korea's national security, it can ban the export after deliberations.
A Hynix source said the company will discuss the matter with the Commerce Ministry. "But because the Taiwanese company has been devoted to the foundry business and the Chinese plant only hires Chinese workers for production lines, there is little risk of technology leaks," the source added.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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