Japanese electronics companies in talks to jointly mass produce chips for use in electronics

Tokyo, Japan-based companies Toshiba Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd., along with NEC Electronics Corp. of Kanagawa, Japan, are in talks to jointly develop advanced 32-nanometer chips to better keep up with rivals, reports Reuters. (A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.) The companies aim to set up a joint venture to mass produce chips used in flat TVs and other high-power home electronics as early as 2010, with Toshiba expected to hold a leading non-majority share, according to Nikkei Business Daily.

Chip makers are racing to halve the production cost per function of a chip every year or two -- a trend known as Moore's Law, named after a co-founder of Intel Corp., says Reuters. Samsung Electronics Co., IBM, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd., Infineon Technologies and Freescale Semiconductor said in May they would work together on 32-nanometer chips. STMicroelectronics, which said it plans to work with IBM to develop next-generation chips, may also join the group, according to Gary Patton, vice president of IBM's semiconductor research and development centre.

Japanese chip makers have been discussing how to share the estimated ¥100-200 billion (US$830 million-$1.66 billion) costs to develop the new chips, which would require less power to run more applications on cell phones, PCs, and other electronics, says the article. Toshiba, NEC Electronics and Sony Corp. had previously teamed up to develop chips with 45 nanometer features.