Hynix plans super small changes.Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard CORRECTION (ran 8/4/2005): Hynix Semiconductor Manufacturing in Eugene temporarily laid off workers in 2001. Also, photo scanners A scanner specialized for reading photographs up to 4x6". It uses the same principles as a larger desktop scanner, but is generally a low-cost, consumer-oriented device geared for digitizing home photos into the computer. that the company plans to buy in the next three years will cost $10 million each. An incorrect year for the layoffs and wrong scanner (1) See also antivirus program. (2) An optical device that reads a printed page or transparency and converts it into a graphics image for the computer. The scanner does not recognize or differentiate in any manner the content of the material it is scanning. price were given in an article that ran on Wednesday in the Business section on Page E6. The Hynix semiconductor plant in Eugene has big plans to make ever smaller computer chips. South-Korean based Hynix will invest $500 million in the massive plant in west Eugene during the next three years as the firm embraces nanotechnology nanotechnology: see micromechanics. nanotechnology Manipulation of atoms, molecules, and materials to form structures on the scale of nanometres (billionths of a metre). , or the creation of micro-miniature products. "If you look at the long-term trend in the semiconductor industry, nanotechnology is the new game," Hynix spokesman Bobby Lee This article is about the comedian. For the pedal steel guitar player, see Bobby Lee (musician). Bobby Lee (born September 17, 1976) is a Korean American comedian notable for his membership in the recurring cast of comedians on the live comedy series said Tuesday. "We are moving into nanotechnology. We are in that transition phase." Hynix plans to make computer chips so small that they only can be seen with an electron microscope electron microscope: see microscope. . "We are creating technology where you could put 1,100 transistors (on a chip) the width of a human hair," Lee said. Retooling the massive plant in west Eugene is nothing new for Hynix. The firm has spent $350 million since 2003 to improve its production capabilities, Lee said. The plant, which makes dynamic random access memory Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is a type of random access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit. Since real capacitors leak charge, the information eventually fades unless the capacitor charge is refreshed periodically. chips, is in the west Eugene enterprise zone. Even though the zone lapsed LEGACY, LAPSED. A legacy is said to be lapsed or extinguished, when the legatee dies before the testator, or before the condition upon which the legacy is given has been performed, or before the time at which it is directed to vest in interest has arrived. Bac. Ab. Legacy, E; Com. Dig. in 1997, Hynix has continued to receive property tax waivers on its new investment, because the company kept on investing in the plant. A downturn Downturn The transition point between a rising, expanding economy to a falling, contracting one. downturn A decline in security prices or economic activity following a period of rising or stable prices or activity. in the high-tech industry and the need to upgrade the plant in 2002 led the firm to temporarily lay off employees while it installed new equipment. At that time, Hynix, which was staggering under heavy debt, came close to closing the Eugene plant permanently, Lee said. But Hynix was able to keep the plant going, he said, partly because of the savings from the temporary layoffs and the property tax breaks on the new equipment. "I don't think that most people in Eugene know how close the plant came to closing," Lee said Tuesday. The plant now employs 950 people. The $500 million investment will pay for the purchase of complex and expensive equipment, Lee said. One machine that Hynix plans to buy, called a photo scanner, costs $100 million, he said. Besides the investment, Hynix plans to boost employment by 10 percent, or 95 jobs. Under new enterprise zone rules that the Eugene City Council will vote on Monday, Hynix would be waived from $9.1 million in property taxes on the new investment over three years. The company would pay $3.88 million in property taxes on the new investment over those three years. |
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