Newly-established Taiwan Memory Co. (TMC) has officially filed its business plan with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to participate in a government project to restructure the DRAM industry, Vice Minister Hwang Jung-chiou said Tuesday. The MOEA first put forth in March the idea of setting up the TMC as part of its efforts to consolidate Taiwan's ailing dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, industry. The company has recently completed its establishment, with registered capital of NT$500,000 (US$15,244). Under a project unveiled in July, the government will allocate a maximum of NT$30 billion to support one or two local DRAM companies to compete with their foreign counterparts, particularly those in South Korea. Companies interested in obtaining the government funding should apply with the MOEA within three months, after which the ministry will review their qualifications. 'TMC is a bellwether, and we hope it will pass the screening, ' Huang said. Huang, however, would not disclose the amount of investment requested by TMC. To qualify for the funding, the applicants should have the ability to efficiently acquire overseas intellectual property and technology usage rights, as well as fair and balanced research and development records from both domestic firms and overseas partners, according to requirements set by the MOEA. The MOEA also demands that the international collaboration must provide adequate training of local talent and that the re-structuring plan must aim to improve existing corporate structures and broker possible mergers and acquisitions. TMC, which aims to develop its own technologies in collaboration with Japan- based Elpida Memory Inc., is so far the only company that has filed its business plan to bid for the funding. MOEA officials said they believe the Formosa Plastics Group will also file an application. Two of Formosa's affiliates -- Nanya Technology Corp. and Inotera Memories Inc. -- have maintained a partnership with U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc., a leading DRAM technology provider. TMC originally hoped to cooperate with both Elpida and Micron, but Micron turned down the proposal in April and decided instead to further reinforce its long- term cooperation with Nanya and Inotera. Nanya and Inotera executives have urged the government to give the Micro-Nanya- Inotera alliance the same level of support it would have given to a Micron-TMC venture. Taiwan's DRAM industry has been ailing due to an oversupply of local makers here, which are relatively small compared to their South Korean counterparts. The government thus proposed consolidating all the DRAM makers into one company -- TMC. 