Powerchip Technology of Taiwan is among the investors in a 12-inch wafer fabrication facility in Hefei, China, which will hold a ground breaking ceremony on Tuesday. Powerchip said the foundry fab will use 0.15-micron, 0.11-micron and 90-nanometer processes to make LCD driver chips.

Powerchip Technology will invest in China's Hefei Construction Investment and Holding Co. for LCD TV driver chips. The move will likely give Powerchip a less than a 10% stake in the company.

Powerchip Technology confirmed it hopes to establish a 12-inch wafer fabrication facility in China with help from local partners. It said the circumstances for such a move must be right, including securing financial backing and approval from the government.

Elite Semiconductor Memory Technology and Zentel Electronics are among the IC design houses that plan to purchase the P3 wafer fabrication facility shuttered by memory maker Powerchip Technology. Also in on the deal are Etron Technology and Vanguard International. "Elite Semiconductor plans to place the newly acquired production equipment within the P3 factory and make Powerchip a manufacturing partner to the company," Elite said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

Powerchip Technology, seeing its DRAM business turn unprofitable again, is reportedly reaching out to government officials in Taiwan on the possibility of reviving the Taiwan Innovative Memory Co. industry consortium. The DRAM consortium called off its efforts in 2010 when memory pricing was buoyed by higher demand.