Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor announced on March 16 that it has sold 79,251 shares in joint venture Rexchip Electronics to Japanese partner Elpida, making Rexchip a consolidated subsidiary of Elpida, Taiwan's Economic Daily News reported. The value of the deal is NT$885 million (US$25.87 million; US$1=NT$34.21). Originally Powerchip and Elpida each held a 48% stake in the DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) manufacturing venture. Following an agreement on share transference reached in November 2008, the two companies finalized necessary procedures on March 16. Elpida now controls a 52% stake in Rexchip, which thus became the first DRAM manufacturer in Taiwan to be chiefly funded by a Japanese parent company.

Powerchip is numbered among the six DRAM manufacturers that the Taiwanese government expects to consolidate into a single venture named TMC (Taiwan Memory Company). The government plans to inject NT$ 30 billion (US$876.42 million) into the venture to prevent Taiwan's DRAM industry from disintegrating. However, Powerchip was known to have had objections to the scheme. It is expected that following the consolidation of Rexchip into Elpida, Powerchip will pursue its own reorganization efforts via further enhancing collaboration with Elpida.