Sun Microsystems Inc shares surged nearly 80 percent on Wall Street on Wednesday after reports IBM was in talks to buy the computer server company.
The Wall Street Journal reported overnight that IBM was seeking to purchase Sun in a cash deal for more than US$6.5 billion, or US$10 to US$11 a share, a premium of more than 100 percent over Sun’s closing price on Tuesday.
Sun shares soared by 78.87 percent in New York on Wednesday to close at US$8.89. IBM lost 1.03 percent to US$91.95.
The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said Sun in recent months had approached a number of large technology companies in the hopes of being acquired.
Hewlett-Packard, declined the offer, the newspaper said, and a spokesman for Dell, the world’s third-largest computer server maker, declined to comment.
The Journal said the Sun acquisition would bolster IBM’s position on the Internet, in software and in finance and telecommunications markets.
The newspaper also noted that both IBM and Sun make computer systems for corporate customers that are not reliant on Microsoft’s Windows software.
Several analysts, however, questioned the benefits for IBM of the purchase of Sun, which owns the rights to the Java programming language and MySQL open source database software, but has been running up big losses recently.
Devina Mehra, chief strategist at First Global, said the deal “appears reasonably priced” but “we do not think it is a very good idea for IBM to acquire Sun.
“Sun has been in trouble far too long, with a declining business model, for IBM to get entangled into, specially in these troubled times,” he said.
Goldman Sachs said it had questions about the “short-term and longer-term benefit to IBM from a potential combination.
“While there would undoubtedly be significant cost savings in the hardware divisions of both companies post a potential acquisition, there is also substantial overlap in almost all product lines,” it said.
“It is hard to see what strategic value [Sun] has to IBM, but the larger company is flush with cash, and may not be able to help itself,” analyst Douglas McIntyre wrote at the Web site 247wallst.com.
A purchase of Sun would be the largest in the history of IBM and in line with “Big Blue” chairman Samuel Palmisano’s recent pledge not to sit back but to engage in “strategic acquisitions.”
A deal could potentially run into difficulties with the anti-trust division of the US Department of Justice because of the wide range of products the firms now make.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region