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Why a Chinese Buyout of Micron Is Not Likely To Succeed
Lucas123 writes: A reported $23 billion offer to purchase U.S.-based Micron, one of the largest DRAM and memory makers in the world, by a Chinese state-owned chip maker isn't likely to succeed for several reasons, not the least of which is that the U.S. government is unlikely to approve it and Micron has no reason to sell. Tsinghua Unigroup, a somewhat enigmatic company that is funded by Tsinghua University in China, offered $21 a share for Micron, which is a 19.3% premium over Micron's closing price on Monday. Micron's market cap is currently $20.7 billion. Micron has denied it received an offer from Tsinghua, but a Wall Street Journal report claimed the offer was real.
Industry analysts, however, believe Tsinghua may have used the WSJ as a trial balloon for an offer. Analysts also say rumors of a deal for Micron have been floating around for more than a month. Still, the possibility of a deal surprised some in the industry who expected China to organically grow its own DRAM and memory businesses. By acquiring Micron, however, China would instantly become a big player in what is a robust market. Fang Zhang, an IHS memory analyst, said Micron will not likely accept a buyout offer because the company has been performing well and expects to continue to do so. Additionally, the U.S. government considers chip technology vital to national security, so approval of the deal would at the very least take months if not more than a year during a time when the Chinese economy is at risk of collapse.
Industry analysts, however, believe Tsinghua may have used the WSJ as a trial balloon for an offer. Analysts also say rumors of a deal for Micron have been floating around for more than a month. Still, the possibility of a deal surprised some in the industry who expected China to organically grow its own DRAM and memory businesses. By acquiring Micron, however, China would instantly become a big player in what is a robust market. Fang Zhang, an IHS memory analyst, said Micron will not likely accept a buyout offer because the company has been performing well and expects to continue to do so. Additionally, the U.S. government considers chip technology vital to national security, so approval of the deal would at the very least take months if not more than a year during a time when the Chinese economy is at risk of collapse.
Additionally, the U.S. government considers chip technology vital to national security,
Potato chips, that is.
Have gnu, will travel.
But didn't that boat sail 25 years ago?
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
There ya go...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
A few years ago, when Solyndra and other companies were in business, they got inundated by hacking attempts of varying degrees of success.
Six months later, China was exporting panels for less than the costs of rare earths, trashing the market completely.
I wouldn't be surprised to see history repeat itself, Micron is likely going to be the target of precise attacks (be it network wise, or even "boots on the ground"), and a no-name competitor will sprout up offering the same products Micron does for less than it costs to normally produce them.
You live in a fantasy world, if you believe the Chinese wouldn't want access to everything. The actions of these superpowers are not limited by morale, only capabilities. And the Chinese capabilities are steadily growing.
Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
**citation needed...
But didn't that boat sail 25 years ago?
Most of the most fancy-pants fabs are here in the US of A. You never hear about them because, unlike other industries, they spend enough money to prevent horrible industrial accidents.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Most of the most fancy-pants fabs are here in the US of A.
True, but those fancy-pants fabs are not owned by Micron. Micron's fabs use older tech. Also, most of Micron's fabs are in Asia, not America.
Citation: List of fabs
True, but those fancy-pants fabs are not owned by Micron. Micron's fabs use older tech. Also, most of Micron's fabs are in Asia, not America.
It's hard to know how specific someone is being, if they aren't specific. Er, wait. Anyway, sure, for Micron, it's sailed.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Really? How is a university planning to fund a $23 billion purchase? Are they going to leverage themselves into an insanity level? Are they an extremely rich university? Something doesn't add up. Maybe they are just a shady front for a shady investment group?
Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water.
Micron is likely going to be the target of precise attacks (be it network wise, or even "boots on the ground"), and a no-name competitor will sprout up offering the same products Micron does for less than it costs to normally produce them.
Micron already has the problem of someone offering the same products for less than it costs to normally produce them. It's coming from a no-name competitor called Samsung. It's because Samsung is already on a more advanced production node than Micron (smaller chips, similar cost per wafer, hard to compete)...
The DRAM game is mostly about getting yields on advanced production nodes (e.g., 30nm vs 20nm) and financial games to fully depreciate/amortize the cost of constructing multi-billion dollar fabs. Currently on SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron are real players in this game (they have 90% of the market) and Micron is the smallest of the 3 (although to be fair, it's probably the only that could theoretically be purchased by a Chinese company).
If Tsinghua wanted to "attack" someone for memory technology, they would probably have better luck attacking Hynix as they already have a fab in Wuxi (china).
What makes me LMAO is the last report I saw on the Chinese F35 ripoff says it actually flies very well since they didn't have to cater to the damned marines wanting the stupid thing to be VTOL, maybe we should just outsource our fricking fighter production to them? It'd probably be a hell of a lot cheaper and i don't see it being any crappier than the F35 is now ;-)
As for TFA? Not gonna happen and not because of the "big bad US gubment" but because most companies don't sell when they are on an upswing and that is what Micron has been as of late. They crank out a LOT of NAND Flash and between SSDs and mobile devices that is a very good market to be in, and of course there is no such thing as too much RAM and with the default RAM amounts steadily climbing in everything across the board...why in the world would they want to sell? The business they are in is growing steadily, they seem to be having no problems with cost,labor, or supplies, there really is no reason to cash out at this point.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
It flies very well... provided it doesn't have to turn. Every military analyst says the J-31 is overweight and vastly underpowered. Just take a look at the airshow videos for it and you'll see the same. Afterburners required to turn and it still lost a ton of altitude.
That's not to say that the F-35 doesn't have it's problems, but the J-31 isn't even the same league as the F-22.
AC it depends on how much the US gov screams globally about dumping product, national security and keeping top quality local jobs in the USA again this decade.
It becomes very expensive just to keep the paperwork, legal teams, export controls around US R and D teams.
Sooner or later a generational hardware change will see other nations like Canada, Israel, Australia, South Korea, France, Taiwan just offer the same expert export focused campus deals. Top experts, a much more understanding local tax system and no questions about: national security, export production lines, where the final product is made.
Production can shift to any nation with low cost workers and design can spread to nations that are more understanding to a multinationals needs and trending global sales.
Most nations have fully understood how Japan was treaded in the 1980's and 1990's over computer related design and exports.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Meh at the end of the day we just need to face the fact that the years of Maverick flying by the seat of his pants is over, its a drone world now. The drone can take Gs no human can survive and every single plane we've had since the 70s have had to have limiters because the planes can take more than the pilots can, and if the drone gets shot down so what? Crank 'em out like cheap radios. the era of the pilot is over and the J-31 and F35 are just money pits to keep the Top Gun fantasy alive.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.