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25 April 1996

Hitachi, Ltd. today announced plans to invest a total of 120 billion yen to construct a plant with 0.3-micron CMOS process capability at the company*s semiconductor base in Ibaraki Prefecture. The investment will be implemented over a period extending from 1996 to 1998. The new line will produce 64Mb DRAMs to meet demand which is expected to grow rapidly from 1998.

Construction will begin in April 1996 and production is scheduled to start from the first half of 1998. At full capacity, the plant will be able to fabricate 30,000 wafers per month by the end of 1999.

As previously announced, Hitachi is already constructing an 85 billion yen facility for 64Mb DRAM production at the base. The new plant, together with the facility under construction, will make the Ibaraki base a leading-edge DRAM plant.

Overseas, the company established TwinStar Semiconductor Incorporated in 1995 in the U.S., a joint venture with Texas Instruments Incorporated for the production of 16Mb and 64Mb DRAMs. The company is also conducting a feasibility study relating to the establishment of two joint ventures in Southeast Asia for the production of 16Mb and 64Mb DRAMs, one in Malaysia with LG Semicon Co., Ltd. and the other in Singapore with Nippon Steel Corporation and the Singapore Economic Development Board.

DRAMs are used mainly in information processing equipment such as personal computers and workstations. The market for such computers is expected to continue rapid growth. The increasing power of personal computers, the spread of a new generation of operating systems and the anticipated expansion of the multimedia market are all expected to generate demand for larger capacity DRAMs.

The main focus of demand for DRAMs is now undergoing a rapid shift from the 4Mb to the 16Mb DRAM. This move to the next generation of memory chips is a constant in this business, and manufacturers have to respond accordingly by establishing the necessary production facilities well in advance.

Outline of new production line

Product	64Mb DRAM
Process	0.3-micron CMOS process
Investment	120 billion yen
Clean room area	9,000m2
Start of construction	April 1996
Start of production	First half of 1998
Full Production	30,000 wafers/month at the end of 1999
Employees	Around 600 at full production