Sony, Qimonda form DRAM design JV

Sony Corp. and Qimonda have signed an agreement to establish a joint venture that will design high-performance and low-power embedded and customer-specific DRAMs for consumer and graphic applications.

Called Qreatic Design, the 50/50 joint venture will start with up to 30 designers from Sony and Qimonda and will be located in Tokyo, Japan. Operations are scheduled to start by the end of the calendar year, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. The JV is then expected to substantially expand its capacities by hiring additional designers.

Sony's Tsuyoshi Kashiwagi has been appointed president and CEO of Qreatic Design, while Qimonda's Thomas Seifert is chairman of the board.

"We believe the joint venture will support our future product design and solutions development and will further pave the way for our product diversification in non-PC applications," said Kin Wah Loh, president and CEO of Qimonda.

"We identified the establishment of a joint venture with Qimonda, a leader in the DRAM field, as an ideal opportunity to extend the advanced DRAM design expertise with which Sony has continued to generate added value in finished products into new business areas," said Yutaka Nakagawa, executive deputy president, OIC of Sony's semiconductor & component group.