TOKYO, September 28^th, 2001 - Elpida Memory Inc. (“Elpida”) today announced that although it will proceed with and advance the construction of the planned 300mm wafer front-end manufacturing plant at the NEC Hiroshima site, equipment installation will be postponed due to the unprecedented continued worsening of conditions in the DRAM market, and added to by the inability to read future conditions due to the recent terrorist attack on the United States of America. Equipment installation at the new fab originally scheduled to start in December 2001 will now commence from September 2002.
Both NEC Corporation (“NEC”) and Hitachi, Ltd. (“Hitachi”) will continue product supply from NEC Hiroshima Ltd. and Hitachi Nippon Steel Semiconductor Singapore Pte. Ltd

Elpida Memory Inc. (“Elpida”) was established in December 1999 as a joint venture DRAM company between NEC and Hitachi, bringing together the engineering skills of both companies at Elpida's Development and Device Center in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Elpida has approximately 450 engineers working on development and design of DRAM devices based on a leading edge 0.13-micron process rule. In August 2000 the company succeeded in developing the world's first 256Mb DRAM using this leading-edge process rule, realizing a die-size 50% smaller than equivalent devices based on conventional 0.18-micron process technology.
Combining NEC and Hitachi's DRAM marketing operations, Elpida began its own sales operations from February 2001 including existing products from the two partners.

However, although the business integration of both NEC and Hitachi with Elpida has advanced favorably, the unprecedented depression in the DRAM market has left no option but to postpone the start of operation at the new DRAM facility.

Elpida, the only DRAM specialized company in Japan with all functions from development to production and sales, is aiming build strong ties with customers and take a leading position along side top DRAM companies in the world market.

About Elpida Memory, Inc.
Elpida Memory, Inc. (formerly NEC-Hitachi Memory, Inc.) is a global corporation with its headquarters based in Tokyo, Japan, and sales and marketing operations located in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia. Elpida was officially formed on December 20th, 1999. Research, design and development operations were merged from NEC and Hitachi on April 1, 2000 and sales and marketing operations commenced in the first quarter of 2001.

Elpida's entire product line-up will be marketed under the Elpida brand name and will include DRAM devices and modules inherited from both NEC and Hitachi, as well as products designed and developed by Elpida as they become available for production. The company is currently involved in developing leading-edge DRAM products based on 0.13-micron process technology. Elpida's main DRAM foundries are located at NEC Hiroshima and Hitachi Nippon Steel Semiconductor Singapore with additional production capacity available from other NEC fabs.

For more information, visit Elpida's World Wide Web site at http://www.elpida.com

About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) (FTSE: 6701q.l) is a leading provider of Internet solutions, dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its customers in the key computer, network and electron device fields through its three market-focused in-house companies: NEC Solutions, NEC Networks and NEC Electron Devices. NEC Corporation, with its in-house companies, employs more than 150,000 people worldwide and saw consolidated net sales of 5,409 billion Yen (approx. US$43 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001. For further information, please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec.com

About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 2000 (ended March 31, 2001) consolidated sales of 8,417 billion yen ($67.9 billion*) The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit Hitachi's Web site at http://global.hitachi.com
* At an exchange rate of 124 yen to the dollar.

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Outline of Elpida Memory

 

Corporate:	Name Elpida Memory, Inc.
Head Office:	2-1, Yaesu 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Representatives:	President:Kenji Tokuyama
	Executive Vice President: Tokumasa Yasui
Established:	December 20th , 1999
Capital:	6.6 billion yen (NEC 50%, Hitachi 50%, as of May 2001)
Employee number:	Approx. 600 (As of May 2001)

Outline of New Hiroshima Fabrication Plant

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