Nec Corp

NEC Corp., Japan's top maker of semiconductors, said Sunday that it has agreed to provide memory chips to Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. for sale in Europe. NEC said it will provide 100,000 4-megabyte dynamic random access memory chips per month to Samsung from its U.K. factories. The Korean maker will then package the chips at its plant in Portugal and sell them under its own name in Europe. NEC said it cannot disclose the financial arrangements of the deal.

Dealing a mild setback to California, NEC Corp. said Wednesday that it will locate a new $800-million semiconductor plant in Scotland rather than in Roseville, Calif. The giant Japanese electronics manufacturer made it clear that this was a strategic decision aimed at beefing up production to serve the growing European market rather than an effort to escape any perceived disadvantages of the Golden State's business climate.

California expects to get at least part--if not all--of NEC Corp.'s $1-billion investment in new computer-chip manufacturing facilities, economic development officials said Monday. The giant Japanese company confirmed that it plans the investment to expand production of 16-megabit dynamic random access memory chips--components of almost all personal computers--and eventually add 64- and 256-megabit chips.