Oregon flash plant may join AMD-Fujitsu joint venture

Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) is likely to take 50 percent ownership of Fujitsu Ltd.'s Oregon fabrication plant by making it part of a joint venture established between the two companies, AMD said.

The flash memory fabrication plant in Gresham, Oregon, could soon become part of the Fujitsu AMD Semiconductor Ltd. (FASL) joint venture, AMD spokesman John Greenagel said. The possibility of an AMD stake in the plant "went before the (AMD) board last week and received favorable considerations," Greenagel said.

The news comes in the wake of Monday's (8/21/01) announcement that Tokyo-based Fujitsu plans to lay off 16,400 employees.

Terms of the companies' FASL agreement stipulate that neither company can compete with the joint venture, Greenagel said. Fujitsu owned the Gresham facility, but contracted it to serve as a foundry for FASL, Greenagel said. "All the flash memory that each company sells is produced by the joint venture," he added.

"We are now exploring whether it makes sense to expand the joint venture and have FASL take over the Gresham facility," Greenagel said. "It would make a cleaner, more streamlined way of operating to make it part of the joint venture."

Fujitsu, in Tokyo, can be contacted at +81-3-3216-3211 or online at http://www.fujitsu.co.jp/. AMD, in Sunnyvale, California, can be reached at +1-408-732-2400 or http://www.amd.com/.

» posted by abennett

IDG News Service

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