TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp. and three other microchip makers said on Tuesday they have agreed to standardize technology to make advanced chips with a circuitry width of 45-nanometres or finer.
The three other companies are Fujitsu Ltd., NEC Electronics Corp. and Renesas Technology Corp., a joint venture between Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp..
The firms are looking to possible mutual use and consolidation of their plants in the future.
Analysts have said Japanese chip makers need to join forces to regain competitiveness and better compete with larger rivals such as Intel Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Texas Instruments Inc..
Finer circuitry decreases the size of a chip and enables data to be processed faster. It also cuts production costs per chip.
But costs for development and production equipment have increased as technology moves to ever-more intricate circuitry, making it difficult for chip makers to shoulder the burden alone.
A nanometre is one billionth of a meter. Most of the world's advanced semiconductor factories currently make chips with a circuitry width of 90 nanometres.
In a related development, Toshiba, Renesas and Hitachi said they have decided not to pursue their tentative plan to establish an independent microchip foundry.
The three companies in January set up a planning company to look into the feasibility of a semiconductor foundry, taking aim at a market dominated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and other Taiwanese chip makers.
The announcement came as little surprise since business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said earlier this month the project was likely to be scrapped due to expectations that such a venture would not make money.
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