Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has approved the subsidization up to 40% for Taiwan Innovative Memory Company's (TIMC's) research and development efforts in NAND flash, according to officials of the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) under the ministry.

The officials revealed that the application for government subsidies was submitted by a group led by TIMC. TIMC will join forces with memory-IC design house Elite Semiconductor Memory Technology (ESMT), chipmaker ProMOS Technology and photomask supplier Photonics Semiconductor Mask Corporation (PSMC) to develop NAND flash technology, the officials said, without elaborating.

TIMC has quietly struck an agreement with US-based Nanostar to acquire NAND flash IP licenses for use in future products, which will be developed with its partners, according to sources at memory makers.

TIMC was originally founded as part of a government plan to develop Taiwan's home-grown DRAM technology, but has called off the mission after lawmakers denied it funding.