DRAM manufacturer Elpida Memory Inc. announced that it would discuss with several other memory manufacturers in Taiwan in order to merge to a bigger company.

Elpida Memory representatives stated that a joint venture might be the solution to the harsh situation that semiconductor-manufacturing companies are now facing.

Yukio Sakamoto, CEO at Elpida Memory, said in an interview that the company is negotiating with other important memory manufacturers, including Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation, ProMOS Technologies Inc., Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Micron Technology Inc.

Elpida has already partnered with Powerchip and they operate Rexchip Electronics together. Sakamoto explained that the best scenario would be that all these companies agree a merger.

Qimonda, a German DRAM manufacturer has already been affected by the memory downturn on the market. However, the state of Saxony has elaborated a bailout plan for the Munich-based company. Along with the German state, there were also other central banks and states with helped, by infusing a total of about $500 million.

Another memory maker, Micron Technology Inc, reported a net loss of $706 million on sales and $1.4 billion for Q3 2008. Analysts doubt that Micron would join the big company, as some company representatives stated that the memory manufacturer only has $1 billion left in cash.

Recently, Qimonda engineer manager, Till Schloesser, reported that the company had been making further improvements in DRAM capacitors. The new concept developed by the German manufacturer seems to cut costs and improve reliability.