[The Hankyoreh, January 25 2008] Samsung and Hynix to collaborate on memory chip

Chipmakers’ hope to maintain dominant position over Japan

Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor will cooperate to develop a next-generation memory device.

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce & Energy on January 24 announced that Samsung and Hynix have agreed to collaborate on developing the basic technology for a next-generation memory device. The two chipmakers will invest 9 billion won (US$9.5 billion) over the next two years on a project to develop a terabit and spin transfer torque MRAM (STT-MRAM) nonvolatile memory chip.

The world’s top two chipmakers have apparently decided to collaborate as a way to maintain their dominant position over Japan, which has invested 3 billion yen (KRW 26.5 billion, US$27.9 million) to develop its own next-generation semiconductor.