Taipei, Dec. 25 (CNA) The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) will seriously consider alternative plans to help Taiwan’s ailing DRAM sector if the Legislative Yuan decides to reject the government’s plan to restructure the industry, an MOEA official said Friday.

Economics Minister Shih Yen-shiang said that with DRAM prices on the rebound, there will be more time for the ministry to consider more sophisticated ways to restructure the industry.

“We will not do it in hurry,” he added.

The Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee adopted a resolution in November asking the MOEA to suspend its DRAM industry restructuring plan and withdraw its proposed investment in the state-backed Taiwan Innovation Memory Co. (TIMC), which was supposed to be the centerpiece of the plan.

Although the ministry has been lobbying lawmakers not to scuttle the plan, Shih said it will propose alternative plans if another resolution opposing the restructuring plan is passed by the full Legislative Yuan by the end of the current session on Dec. 31.

The Executive Yuan has conditionally approved TIMC’s request for NT$8.1 billion in funding from the National Development Fund (NDF) , but legislators across the political spectrum believe that the Fund should not invest in TIMC because DRAM prices have recovered, making it pointless to proceed with the original plan.

The government had hoped that TIMC would secure badly needed core technologies and bring together some of the sectors’ big players, including Powerchip Semiconductor, ProMOS Technologies, and Rexchip Electronics, to spur the consolidation of the fragmented industry.

Taiwan’s DRAM industry has been bleeding money over the past two years because of overcapacity and a slump in demand. It boasts six of the world’s top 10 DRAM manufacturers but holds a global market share of only 15 percent. (By Pei-chun Tang and Fanny Liu)

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