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Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor will cooperate to develop a next-generation memory device.

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce & Energy on January 24 announced that Samsung and Hynix have agreed to collaborate on developing the basic technology for a next-generation memory device. The two chipmakers will invest 9 billion won (US$9.5 billion) over the next two years on a project to develop a terabit and spin transfer torque MRAM (STT-MRAM) nonvolatile memory chip.

The world’s top two chipmakers have apparently decided to collaborate as a way to maintain their dominant position over Japan, which has invested 3 billion yen (KRW 26.5 billion, US$27.9 million) to develop its own next-generation semiconductor.

In the past, Korea’s chipmakers have depended on foreign countries for basic technologies needed to produce their products. Technological collaboration between Samsung and Hynix is indicative of their determination to break what has become a vicious cycle of dependence. The two companies are putting a huge amount of money toward payments for patent rights, for DRAM chips to the U.S.-based Intel and for NAND flash chips to Japan’s Toshiba.

Cha Dong-hyeong, a ministry official, who asked to remain anonymous, said, “Korea has maintained the top position in the memory industry by relying on the world’s top technologies since 1993, but has fallen behind in the field of basic technology,” adding, “If domestic manufacturers cooperate to secure basic technologies for next-generation chips just as in 1990, when they developed 64-megabyte DRAM, the nation’s semiconductor industry will be able to maintain its dominance over the industry.”
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