Hynix Semiconductor Co. (formerly Hyundai Electronics Industries Co.) announced it is shutting down its fab in Eugene, Ore. for six months and idling 600 employees, due to free-falling DRAM prices.
Hynix officials said during the shutdown the plant will be upgraded from the present 0.22-micron processing making only 64-mgeabit SDRAMs to a new 0.13-micron process able to make 256-Mbit chips.
They said when reopened, the fab would be competitive in the global memory market.
Rumors have been swirling for months about the fate of the Eugene fab with its older processing technology. Hynix has consistently denied reports that the fab is up for sale.
Hynix is currently working through a major financial crunch as it reschedules more than $2 billion in short term debt that is coming due in the next year.