Taiwan's Nanya Tech, Inotera seek state funds-paper

TAIPEI, July 9 (Reuters) - Taiwan DRAM chipmakers Nanya Technology (2408.TW) and Inotera (3474.TW) are seeking state funds of up to T$30 billion ($909 million) to help them develop new technologies, a local evening newspaper said on Thursday.

Nanya Tech, Taiwan's No.2 DRAM maker, and Inotera Memories, its joint venture with U.S.-based Micron (MU.N), applied to the economics ministry on Thursday for the possible capital injection, the United Evening News said, without citing sources.

Earlier this year, Nanya Tech and Inotera said they would raise funds to boost working capital and hoped the Taiwan government could also inject capital into the companies to help the camp.

Nanya, Inotera and Micron will work more closely in the future, including developing new chips that have fatter margins and migrating to more advanced process technology to further cut costs and boost efficiency. [ID:nTP335629]

Spokesmen from Nanya Tech and Inotera were not available immediately to comment on the report, which came after the Taipei stock market closed on Thursday.

Nanya Tech shares rose 0.36 percent and Inotera shares gained 1.3 percent on Thursday, compared with the main TAIEX's 1.2 percent rise. Taiwan's national development fund has said it could consider injecting funds into the DRAM camp if they can map out a new restructuring platform or proposal that helps the whole memory chip sector, but the development fund did not give other details.

In April, Taiwan's government announced the formation of Taiwan Memory Company to help rescue the island's struggling DRAM sector to compete with global giants Samsung (005930.KS) and Hynix (000660.KS) of South Korea. (US$1=T$33) (Reporting by Baker Li and Argin Chang, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)