Intel, Toshiba, and Samsung, among others, plan to form a consortium to develop 10-nm products, the Japanese Nikkei paper reported.

Intel, Toshiba, and Samsung, among others, plan to form a consortium to develop 10-nm products, the Japanese Nikkei paper reported.

The three companies also plan to invite about ten others to join the consortium, the paper said. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will likely provide around 5 billion yen ($61.21 million) of the roughly 10 billion yen in initial funds for the R&D efforts, Reuters reported on Friday.

Toshiba and Samsung plan to use the technologies to make 10 nanometer-class NAND flash memory and other chips, while Intel will likely use it to develop faster microprocessors, the Nikkei said, as cited by Reuters.

in next-generation 22-nm technology.

That investment will be used to develop and fabricates Intel's first 22-nm processors, known as "Ivy Bridge," in 2011. The Ivy Bridge design will be what's known as a process shrink - an existing design manufactured on a finer manufacturing process, with a corresponding cut in power or increase in clock speed - of the upcoming chip, which was introduced at this year's Intel Developer Forum.

On Friday, Intel announced the opening of a billion-dollar test and assembly plant in Vietnam. The new 500,000 square foot facility will eventually employ as many as 4,000 people, Intel said.