NEC reportedly develops 55-nano technology
Company has developed technology to make microchips with circuitry width of 55 nanometers, according to reports.
Finer circuitry decreases the size of a chip and cuts per-unit production costs. It also helps chips process data faster.
NEC Electronics, the world's eighth-largest semiconductor maker, aims to start manufacturing the chips on a commercial basis in 2007, the newspaper said.
Officials at NEC Electronics, 70 percent owned by Japanese electronics conglomerate NEC, were not immediately available for comment.
On even more advanced 45-nanometer chips, NEC Electronics and seventh-ranked Toshiba announced plans last month to co-develop the cutting-edge products so as to share hefty development costs and cut time to market.
Costs for development and production equipment are expanding rapidly as chipmakers move to narrower circuitry, making it difficult for microchip producers, except for a few giants such as Intel, to shoulder the burden alone.
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, said Thursday it would build a 45-nanometer chip factory, which would cost more than $3.5 billion, in Israel--its second such plant after one being built in Arizona.