Micron Technology Inc completed its ¥200 billion (US$2 billion) acquisition of Elpida Memory Inc on Tuesday, as it seeks to deliver sustainable profits in the volatile market for memory chips used in PCs and mobile devices.
Micron — which has reported a net loss in five out of its past 10 fiscal years — now has enough scale in the maturing industry to weather the price swings that have eroded its profits in the past, chief executive Mark Durcan said.
“I believe that Micron, to a greater extent than ever before, controls its own destiny,” Durcan said.
Elpida, the last Japanese maker of computer memory chips, sought bankruptcy protection last year after losses left it unable to pay debts.
The Tokyo District Court approved Micron’s offer in February, clearing the last major hurdle for the takeover.
Elpida’s assets include a fabrication plant in Hiroshima and an 65 percent stake in Rexchip Electronics Corp, it said in a joint statement with Micron.
Buying Elpida will nearly double Micron’s share of the global DRAM chips market. Combined, the two will have 28 percent of the market.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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