Billion-dollar MagnaChip takes control of five fabs
By Peter Clarke
Silicon Strategies
10/06/2004, 5:35 AM ET
SEOUL, South Korea — As expected MagnaChip Semiconductor Ltd. has been launched as a sell-off of the non-memory operations of Hynix Semiconductor Inc.
As a result of the transaction a semiconductor company has been created with control of five wafer fabs and an annual revenue of about US$1 billion. The company name was reported by Silicon Strategies Tuesday (Oct. 5).
Hynix sold its non-memory semiconductor operations to MagnaChip for approximately 954 billion won or US$828.4 million in a transaction led by Citigroup Venture Capital (CVC) Equity Partners, LP, CVC Asia Pacific Ltd., and Francisco Partners, MagnaChip said Wednesday (Oct. 6).
MagnaChip Semiconductor said it has acquired five wafer fabs located in Korea, with current manufacturing capacity of approximately 110,000 8-inch equivalent wafers per month. The company also has more than 15,000 patents in its intellectual property portfolio covering its display driver, CMOS image sensors and application-specific processor business. Following the buy-out the company has 4,200 employees, including its 650 person research and development staff.
"MagnaChip is positioned in the marketplace as a leading semiconductor solution company. Our focus will be on establishing recognition for the new MagnaChip Semiconductor brand, continuing to build our extensive R&D capabilities, and improving and expanding our customer relationships," said Youm Huh, president and chief executive officer of MagnaChip Semiconductor, in a statement.
"With expected sales of US$1 billion for the full year 2004, MagnaChip is quickly becoming one of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers," added Huh in the same statement.
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