The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) is assisting the Taiwan Innovation Memory Co. (TIMC) in obtaining private capital, as government investment in the company has been forbidden by the legislature, Economic Affairs Minister Shih Yen-shiang said Thursday. However, the ministry is not playing a dominating role in the matter, since TIMC is a private company, Shih added. According to MOEA officials, TIMC needs capital of NT$11 billion in the initial stage, 55 percent of which has already been raised. As far as the remaining 45 percent is concerned, the MOEA has been helping to introduce TIMC to potential investors such as financial holding companies, the officials said. TIMC was established in August 2009 as part of a government plan to restructure the country's DRAM industry. However, the Legislative Yuan adopted a resolution in the last legislative session requiring that the MOEA withdraw an earlier commitment to fund the company 'to prevent a waste of government funds.' The venture was originally intended to salvage the local DRAM sector, which was haemmorhaging money during the global financial crisis because of oversupply and plummeting demand. However, doubts mounted about the need for the venture once the market began picking up again. 