Toshiba and NEC Electronics will jointly develop 32-nanometre chips. The companies will decide in 2008 how and if they will jointly produce the chips, they said.

Chip makers are looking to tinier circuit sizes to cut production cost per chip function and enable powerful electronics that run for hours. But the shift also forces changes in fundamental materials and processes and exposes chip makers to huge initial costs.

Samsung Electronics Co., IBM, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd., Infineon Technologies, STMicroelectronics and Freescale Semiconductor have said they would work through 2010 to develop and produce 32-nanometre chips.

Toshiba and NEC Electronics, which plan to mass produce 45-nanometre or 40-nanometre chips by early 2009, had also approached Fujitsu Ltd Spokesman Etsuro Yamada declined to comment on whether or not Fujitsu would join the group, only saying that Fujitsu was considering various options.

Source: Reuters