Japan's Elpida to ask for 20 pct chip price hike

TOKYO, March 31 (Reuters) - Japanese computer memory chip maker Elpida Memory Inc 6665.T aims to raise its prices by 20 percent in April to reverse a brutal industrywide slump.

Elpida hopes to negotiate with computer makers for a 10 percent price hike in its dynamic random access memory chips in the first two weeks in April and another 10 percent in the second two weeks, a spokeswoman said.

"These (current) prices are not sustainable -- nobody is making a profit," said spokeswoman Kumiko Higuchi. "We believe chip inventories are down and 1-Gigabyte DRAM supply will tighten and back-to-school demand would help our negotiations."

Elpida, along with No. 2 memory maker Hynix Semiconductor Inc (000660.KS), tumbled to a quarterly loss in October-December as chip makers hawked off excess inventory, causing chip prices to plunge. Nanya Technology Corp (2408.TW), Taiwan's No. 2 DRAM maker, also posted its third consecutive quarterly loss.

Shares of Elpida surged as much as 8.9 percent after Bloomberg reported that it would raise prices. The stock closed up 2.2 percent at 3,320 yen, against a 2.3 percent fall in the benchmark Nikkei average .N225. (Reporting by Mayumi Negishi)