SINGAPORE – IM Flash Technologies LLC, the Intel and Micron joint venture, will delay the start of production at its Singapore wafer fabrication plant till mid-2009, citing weak market conditions.
The company had planned a December start for NAND flash memory chip production.
Research firm iSuppli estimates that average prices of NAND chips have dropped by 36% in Q1 2008, and are expected to fall an additional 13% in Q2. It predicts that NAND prices could stabilize by mid-year.
The electronics sector in Singapore has been impacted by the move of companies to cheaper manufacturing locations like China and Vietnam.