Hermes Microvision Inc (HMI, 漢微科) shareholders yesterday gave the go-ahead to a NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) takeover bid by ASML Holding NV.
Nearly 80 percent of HMI shareholders voted to allow the acquisition, chairman Shu Chin-yung (許金榮) told investors on the sidelines of an extraordinary meeting of shareholders in Hsinchu.
In June, Netherlands-based ASML offered to buy all 71 million capital shares of HMI at NT$1,410 each in cash.
The transaction marks the second-largest acquisition in the nation’s semiconductor industry this year, following US memorychip maker Micron Technology Inc’s NT$130 billion buyout of the remaining 67 percent stake in Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技).
The deal is expected to be completed next quarter at the earliest, if it receives approval from the Fair Trade Commission, as well as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and other government agencies in China and Singapore, Shu said.
Shu said he is optimistic about getting permission to proceed with the deal.
“Our products do not overlap with those of ASML. Instead, we are quite complementary to each other in terms of product lineup, which usually does not raise anti-trust concerns,” he said.
The combination of the two firms would help solve technological challenges for chipmakers, which are developing next-generation 7-nanometer (nm) and 5nm technologies, Shu said.
Hermes Microvision is the world’s largest e-beam semiconductor inspection tool supplier, with an 85 percent share of the global market. The company counts Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) among its major clients.
ASML is the world’s top manufacturer of extreme ultraviolet tools, which are to be used for 7nm and 5nm chip manufacturing, replacing immersion tools.
The transaction would not lead to any job cuts, Shu said, adding that he expects the third quarter to be a busy period for the firm.
The 65-year-old Shu said he plans to retire from his current post after the transaction completes.
HMI shares, which will be delisted from the Taipei Exchange following the completion of the deal, were unchanged at NT$1,355 yesterday.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in artificial-intelligence (AI) chips, yesterday said that small-volume production of 3-nanometer (nm) chips for a key customer is on track to start by the end of this year, dismissing speculation about delays in producing advanced chips. As Alchip is transitioning from 7-nanometer and 5-nanometer process technology to 3 nanometers, investors and shareholders have been closely monitoring whether the company is navigating through such transition smoothly. “We are proceeding well in [building] this generation [of chips]. It appears to me that no revision will be required. We have achieved success in designing
RSS