Micron Technology Inc yesterday agreed to close the NT$132.5 billion (US$4.19 billion) buyout of its Taiwanese DRAM manufacturing arm in early December, ending months-long speculation about a potential collapse of the deal.
Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科), 33 percent owned by Micron, yesterday said its board has approved the deal with Micron’s local subsidiary Micron Memory Taiwan Co Ltd (台灣美光) at NT$30 per common share in cash.
Inotera is to be delisted from the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Dec. 6, after Micron wraps up the purchase of its remaining 67 percent stake in Inotera, the chipmaker said.
The transaction was originally scheduled to be closed in the middle of July, but Micron postponed the deal in June.
“Micron spent a little more time reviewing Inotera’s operations before reaching the agreement,” Inotera chairman Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) said at a news conference yesterday.
As part of the deal, Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), another Inotera major shareholder, agreed to sell its 24.2 percent stake in the firm to Micron for NT$47.6 billion and to spend NT$31.5 billion at most to subscribe to Micron stocks, or stocks and bonds via private placements, Lee said.
Lee is also the president of Nanya.
Micron is scheduled to set its price early next month, according to Lee.
With the investment, Nanya is likely to own as much as a 5.4 percent stake in Micron and to become the largest shareholder of Idaho-based memorychip maker Boise, based on Micron’s closing share price of US$17.5 on Monday.
The deal will also allow Nanya, the nation’s biggest DRAM chipmaker, to secure next-generation 10-nanometer technologies from the US memorychip maker, Lee said.
Lee said Samsung Electronics Co’s suspension of Note 7 production would not significantly reduce demand for mobile DRAM chips.
“I don’t see any impact at all so far,” Lee said.
Other smartphone vendors would replace Samsung’s role in supplying phones to consumers, he said.
Market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) expects Apple Inc and China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為), Vivo Electronics Corp (維沃移動通信) and Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀移動) to benefit from Samsung’s suspension of Note 7 sales and exchanges.
The Taipei-based researcher said the suspension of Note 7 production would not impact the price hikes of handset key components including DRAM chips, as Samsung’s competitors are set to increase supply.
Separately, Nanya yesterday said its revenue rose 1.18 percent to NT$3.5 billion last month from NT$3.46 billion in August as shipments and average selling prices rose slightly. Last month’s figure marked its highest level since January.
During last quarter, Nanya’s revenue expanded to NT$102.04 billion, a 10.42 percent increase from the second quarter’s NT$8.93 billion.
Inotera yesterday said revenue jumped 35.5 percent to NT$5.47 billion last month from NT$4.04 billion in August.
In the third quarter, the firm’s revenue surged 20.29 percent to NT$13.93 billion from NT$11.58 billion in the second quarter, it said.
NEW MARKET: The partnership opens up India to the Dutch company, which already has a strong hold in the semiconductor market of South Korea, Taiwan and China ASML Holding NV entered into a partnership agreement with Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd aimed at ramping up India’s goal to develop domestic chip-manufacturing capabilities. The Dutch company’s technology would help power Tata Electronics’ planned 300 millimeter (mm) semiconductor foundry in Gujarat, according to a joint statement from the two companies on Saturday. The signing of a memorandum of understanding coincides with a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Netherlands, which is looking to deepen bilateral relations with New Delhi. ASML, whose top customers include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co, makes lithography machines that can print
TECH RELIANCE: Growth is increasingly reflecting an unequal K-shaped distribution, where technology sectors outperform and other industries struggle, an expert said Standard Chartered Bank has significantly raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth to 9.5 percent this year, up from 7.6 percent previously, citing surging artificial intelligence (AI) demand driving exports, semiconductor production and investment. The upgrade reflects a sustained AI supercycle that continues to fuel demand for advanced chips and technology infrastructure, which form the backbone of Taiwan’s exports, the bank said in a report this week. “We raise our 2026 growth forecast to reflect a much stronger-than-expected first-quarter GDP figure,” Standard Chartered senior economist for greater China and Asia Tommy Wu (胡東安) said in the report. Driven largely by a 35.3 percent
Two of Taiwan’s international carriers, Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), have retained the five-star airline rating awarded by international airline review organization Skytrax. Starlux was awarded the distinction for a second consecutive year, while EVA Air received it for the 11th straight year, Skytrax said in statements released yesterday and on Thursday last week, respectively. The five-star rating is considered one of the airline industry's highest honors and is awarded following professional audits of airline product and frontline service standards, Skytrax said. The ratings are based on in-depth assessments using unified global quality standards rather than customer review scores
Tokyo Electron's Taiwan unit today said in a written response that it respects the judicial process, takes the court ruling seriously and would not appeal in the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) trade secrets case. Last month, a court fined the Taiwan unit of Japan's Tokyo Electron NT$150 million (US$4.74 million) in a case involving trade secrets related to TSMC's sensitive chip technology.
RSS