Elpida Memory is likely to remove some of its production lines from Japan to Rexchip Electronics's second 12-inch fab, R2, which has been left idle since the shell construction was completed around the end of 2008, according to industry sources.

Elpida has remarked that it is considering transferring a portion of the capacity at its Hiroshima plant to the Taiwan-based subsidiary, as part of its measures to combat the appreciation of the Japanese yen. Elpida did not elaborate on details of the transfer.

According to a Nikkei report, Elpida will shift 40% of its in-house production to Rexchip.

Rexchip currently runs a 12-inch fab (R1) that is capable of outputting 85,000 wafers a month. The company said previously it expected R2 to begin operations in 2011, but a demand slowdown and falling prices since early 2011 brought difficulties in fulfilling the goal.

Rexchip in mid-2010 said that once its R2 goes online, the company would see its overall capacity boost to 160,000-200,000 a month, more than doubling from current levels.

Rexchip was ahead of all Taiwan-based DRAM manufacturers in moving 30nm-class process technology to volume production. The company now has 25% of its capacity using 3Xnm to produce chips, and is set to covert all of its chip production to the node by the end of 2011.