DOW JONES 90-DAY NEWS/RETRIEVAL Int'l News & Research Services
Sequence Number : 1046 Story Date : 98/02/12
3 07:12 T =Texas Instruments May Cut Stake In Taiwan Acer Chip Venture
By Russell Flannery
TAIPEI (Dow Jones)--Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) and Taiwan's Acer Inc.
(Q.ACE) are in talks that may lead to a cut in the U.S. semiconductor maker's
stake in a Taiwan-based memory-chip joint venture, a senior Acer executive told
Dow Jones Thursday.
The disclosure comes after TI last week said it would end a memory-chip
manufacturing joint venture with Japan's Hitachi Ltd. (HIT or 6501) and take
ownership of a US$500 million plant they built, a move analysts said is aimed
at lowering TI's exposure to the memory chip market, analysts said.
Acer, one of the world's 10 largest personal computer makers, and TI are at a
crossroads after Texas Instruments-Acer Inc., 48% owned by Acer and 33% by TI,
predicted in December it would post a NT$4.60 billion corporate loss for 1997,
one of the largest on record in Taiwan.
TI-Acer said the loss resulted from a collapse in prices of dynamic random
access memory chips, or DRAM, the mostly widely used type of personal-computer
memory chips. Average international spot prices for 16-megabit DRAM plunged to
roughly US$2 in December from about US$9 in the second quarter because of
slower-than-expected demand and a fall in the value of the Korean won, analysts
said. South Korea is the world's largest DRAM maker.
'We are in discussions about the future of TI-Acer,' said George Huang,
corporate general controller for the Acer Group and a member of TI-Acer's board
of directors. 'There are many different alternatives. No decisions have been
made.'
Currently a specialized DRAM maker, TI-Acer wants to inject US$300 million
into its capital for the purchase of equipment to boost its technology and
competitiveness, Huang said.
A decision on the investment is expected this month, he said. So far, TI
hasn't decided to participate in the capital infusion, Huang said. If it
doesn't and Acer arranges the needed funds, TI's stake in TI-Acer would fall.
(MORE) DOW JONES NEWS 02-12-98
07:12 AM
(Corrected 7:39 AM)
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