Memory chip company Dane-Elec has re-engineered itself and will expand its module manufacturing operations. At the same time, it announced that it had struck a deal with Hyundai to sub-contract production of modules and another deal with Samsung is likely to follow at the beginning of next year. Dave Lalor, managing director of newly re-named Dane-Elec Memory, said that the company would increase production of memory modules in its factory in Spiddal, Galway, and would also begin production in its US office in Irvine, California. He said: "We're initially going to produce 20,000 modules a week in the US, and at present we're producing between 60,000 and 80,000 units here in Ireland." Lalor said that its US turnover was projected to rise from $44 million in 1998 to $90 million in 1999. The company, which has its headquarters in France, has a 13 per cent capitalisation on the Paris Bourse and in 1998 had a turnover of $210 million. Lalor said that Dane-Elec planned to increase its sales of memory modules through the retail market. It already produces packaged solutions in French supermarkets but is actively investigating doing similar things in the US and the UK. "We can increase our margins by selling through supermarkets but it needs a different approach," he said. "In time, supermarkets will sell memory upgrades off the shelf." The company is in the process of licensing Rambus technology and Lalor said that the modules using its technology would arrive in the market in big volume in the year 2000. Dane-Elec will look at using local distributors in territories where it currently has no coverage, said Lalor. ®