The new Taiwan government company being established to help the island consolidate its struggling computer chip industry said it will enlist Japan's Elpida Memory Inc. as a technology partner.

 

Taiwan Memory Co. said it had also chosen Boise, Idaho-based Micron Technology Inc. as a partner, but that "the decision is pending on the agreement of (its) currently existing technology partners."

 

If the Taiwanese consolidation succeeds, it could eventually challenge South Korean DRAM makers Hynix Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics Co., which are major Taiwanese competitors.

 

The Taiwan government announced early last month that it would have Taiwan Memory up and running within six months, and expressed the hope that it could acquire core technologies from foreign enterprises.

 

John Hsuan, the honorary vice-chairman of Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp., the world's second-largest contract chip maker by revenue, has been chosen to head it.

 

Taiwan's six makers of DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, chips have suffered from a glut of supply as the global economic slump saps demand for electronics and machinery run with semiconductors.