Taipei, March 19, 2010 (CENS)-Nanya Technology Corp. and Inotera Memories Inc., dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chipmakers both under the Formosa Plastics Group (GPG), is hiring 6-10% more workers as part of its expansion to meet rising demand.

Nanya`s president, R.C. Lien, said the company would add a combined 250 R&D specialists and engineers this year to its 4,000 workforce. The other company plans to recruit 300-400 R&D specialists and engineers this year, making its staff size 3,500-3,600.

Either company plans to increase DRAM-chip output by 30% this year using 50-nanometer process technology with new recruitments. They are Taiwan`s first DRAM chipmakers to begin talent recruitments right after the global economic downturn, which forced all of the island`s chipmakers to place a large number of their employees on unpaid leave.

Inotera has been Taiwan`s exclusive DRAM chipmaker to skip over 60-nm process program into 50-nm development directly from 70-nm process production. The company`s president, Charles Kao, said the company is capable of producing 2-gigabite double date rate 3 (DDR3) DRAM chips using 50-nm process and will send samples for verifications at customers by the end of this month.

Kao said the company will increase output of 50-nm chips at rate of 10,000-15,000 300-mm wafers a month towards the maximum monthly output of 100,000 wafers at each 300-mm fab. The company also planned to boost the maximum output to 130,000 wafers in near future after initial goal is attained.

Nanya will jack up its output to 50,000 300-mm wafers a month at each factory, up from current 30,000 wafers or so. Lien estimated 50-nm process to help the company`s output increase two folds by the end of this year from last year`s level.

Lien said talents are the key to competitiveness by citing the company`s success in shifting in short time to Micron Technology-transferred Stack process from Qimonda`s Trench process.

(by Ken Liu)