With plant operations disrupted due to power shortages, Japan-based Elpida Memory may ask for assistance from its packaging and testing partner Powertech Technology (PTI), industry sources speculate.

According to Elpida's latest update, the company's major chip assembly and testing plant in Akita-shi, Akita, was not operating as of the time of its statement on March 14 due to power outages caused by the earthquake. However, normal operations at the company's chip plant in Hiroshima, southwest of Japan, have been restored already.

Elpida reportedly is among PTI's major DRAM clients. The chip vendor announced previously that almost all of its in-house capacity has been shifted to production of mobile DRAM chips.

Monthly capacity at Elpida's Hiroshima plant is estimated at 120,000 12-inch wafers, of which 95,000 units mobile DRAM memory, according to market observers.

Elpida previously said that subsidiary Rexchip Electronics would start making mobile DRAM products for it as early as the third quarter of 2011, when the Hiroshima plant reaches full capacity. Usage of mobile DRAM is soaring thanks to its adoption in tablet PCs.

Elpida outsources most of its standard DRAM production to Rexchip as well as contract manufacturing partners including Powerchip Technology and ProMOS Technologies.