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Qimonda AG has announced that it will ramp down DRAM production at its 300mm fab in Richmond, Virginia with the loss of approximately 1,500 jobs. The loss-making memory manufacturer has filed for bankruptcy in Germany and does not currently have the capital to convert its Richmond fab to its ‘Buried Wordline’ technology and migrate to smaller geometries. Qimonda had previously announced that its 200mm fab located in Richmond would close as it became uncompetitive, resulting in the final withdrawal of semiconductor manufacturing for the company in the U.S. No official timeline was given for the closure of the 300mm fab.

Efforts are ongoing to ramp ‘Buried Wordline’ technology at its 300mm fab in Dresden, Germany. Qimonda said that its 65nm devices on the new technology were in volume production and that it had now fabricated the first operational DDR3 memory modules based on 46nm ‘Buried Wordline’ technology.

However, Qimonda now needs new investors to inject capital to remain solvent. Funds from the Saxony Government and Portuguese bank (s) previously secured to keep the business afloat are not sufficient due to shortfalls in revenue generation as DRAM prices declined further than expected in the fourth quarter of 2008. Qimonda said in a statement that should it be unable to find new investors, it was likely the company would be liquidated.

The loss of revenue has also come from the sale of its shares in the production of DRAM at Inotera Memories to rival Micron Technology. Upon bankruptcy notification, Inotera stopped shipments to Qimonda, reducing its available supply of approximately 30,000wspm. The ramping down of Richmond will further curtail capacity by approximately 40,000wspm, leaving the company with only one 300mm fab in Dresden.