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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (54195)	10/16/2001 1:01:31 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

DRAM mergers, another sign of a nearing bottom? Infineon, Toshiba move closer to DRAM merger deal By Jack Robertson EBN (10/16/01 10:14 a.m. EST) Infineon Technologies AG and Toshiba Corp. are close to reaching an agreement to merge their DRAM operations, sources close to the German chip maker said Tuesday. Infineon confirmed a month ago that the two companies were discussing such a combine, after Toshiba disclosed that it planned to put its money-losing DRAM business on the block. Little was revealed beyond that until this week, when sources said details regarding how such a DRAM union would be constructed have begun to emerge. The source said Infineon has directed its humnan resources department to draft potential organizational arrangements if the merger goes through, adding that the talks are in the home stretch. An Infineon spokesman in Munich would only say that discussions with Toshiba were continuing and that no final deal had been struck. A Toshiba spokesman in the United States said he could not comment on the issue. Industry observers said that under the most likely merger scenario, Infineon and Toshiba would spin off their combined DRAM operations in a similar fashion to Elpida Memory Inc., which was created by the union of the DRAM businesses of Hitachi Ltd. and NEC corp. Infineon president Ulrich Schmacher introduced the idea of a DRAM spin-off as long as two years ago, though that was at a time when many companies in the electronics industry were spinning off chip divisions in an effort to raise funds through initial public offerings. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is also said to be interested in Toshiba's Direct Rambus DRAM and NAND-flash memory operations. It isn't clear if Toshiba wants to divest its successful NAND-flash business, and if so,whether it is part of the package under discussion with Infineon. The embattled DRAM industry is facing continued consolidation as suppliers incur major losses on record-low memory chip prices. In addition to the on-going Infineon-Toshiba talks, the spotlight is on Hynix Semiconductor Co., which is in the midst of protracted negotiations with creditors to craft a bailout plan.