Defiant Elpida plans to hike chip prices by 20%

Computer-memory maker Elpida Memory Inc. plans to raise prices 20 percent in April, Chief Executive Officer Yukio Sakamoto said, defying the glut that drove chip makers to record losses in the $31 billion market.

Elpida, Japan's biggest memory manufacturer, will inform computer makers that it plans to increase prices 10 percent in the first half of April and another 10 percent in the second half of the month after demand rose and inventory levels fell, Sakamoto said in an interview Monday.

Sakamoto's proposal clashes with projections by analysts at UBS AG and Macquarie Group Ltd., who estimate prices won't rebound from near-record lows until the second half of the year. Should Tokyo-based Elpida convince its customers, the chip maker would give rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co. leverage to negotiate the biggest increase in prices since July.