DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday confirmed that president Charles Kau (高啟全) has told its board that he plans to retire, amid feverish speculation that Kau plans to join China’s state-backed Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd (清華紫光).
If Kau does jump ship for Tsinghua Unigroup, the move could have a profound impact on Taiwan’s role in the world DRAM industry if he is to help the Chinese firm expand into the DRAM sector and compete with Taiwanese firms.
“Kau has submitted his retirement [papers]. The board will discuss it during its meeting [today],” Nanya Technology spokesman Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) said by telephone.
Photo: Hung Yu-fang, Taipei Times
Lee said the company does not know what Kau plans to do after he leaves the company.
“Kau’s leaving will not have a significant impact on Nanya Technology’s operation and technology migration. Parent companies under the Formosa Group (台塑集團) will continue to support Nanya Technology’s development,” Lee said.
However, Gu Wenjun (顧文君), an analyst at ICwise, a Chinese market research house, said on Weibo (微博) that, based on information that he had received, Kau planned to leave Nanya Technology to become executive vice president in charge of Tsinghua Unigroup’s semiconductor storage business and help the Chinese venture partner with Micron Technology Inc.
Tsinghua Unigroup, China’s largest chip designer, in July signaled its interest in the DRAM market when it tried to buy US memory giant Micron for US$23 billion, but Micron rejected the offer.
The 62-year-old Kau, a DRAM veteran, played a key role in the formation of Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技), the DRAM manufacturing venture set up by Micron and Nanya Technology, which makes DRAM chips using Micron technologies and supplies almost all of its chips to the US firm.
Kau served as Inotera chairman and represented Inotera and Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) in negotiations of a supply contract with Micron.
“If the speculation proves to be true, that means China is one step closer to realizing its dream of expanding into the DRAM industry,” TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) analyst Avril Wu (吳雅婷) said by telephone.
“Kau’s appointment could help push cooperation between Tsinghua Unigroup and Micron,” Wu said.
It is likely that Tsinghua Unigroup would pay a premium for a stake in Micron to obtain DRAM manufacturing technologies, and such a partnership could lead to Micron building a DRAM factory in China, she said.
“As a result, Tsinghua Unigroup could play a bigger role than Taiwanese DRAM makers in supplying DRAM chips to Micron,” Wu said.
Kao worked for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), Intel Corp and US-based chip firm Fairchild Semiconductor before cofounding Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) with Miin Wu (吳敏求), who is the company’s chairman.
After quitting Macronix, Kau helped found Nanya Technology in 1995.
This story has been amended since first published to correct the spelling of Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd.
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