The prolonged transaction procedure to purchase Elpida by U.S. company Micron in its total assets had to strengthen the new business owner in the segment of mobile memory . The main Elpida factory in Hiroshima was 80% focused on the production of memory chips for smartphones.
Yesterday, Micron announced the formal completion of the transaction for the acquisition of 100% Elpida. According to the terms of the previously indicated, a one-time payment of $ 750 million and the remaining $ 1.75 billion will be paid in equal installments in the period up to 2019. The money will be only enough to cover the debts of Elpida. In addition to full control of most Elpida, Micron company has received 65% of the shares of Rexchip - Taiwan's Elpida company engaged in production of memory chips at its own factory in Taiwan, which uses silicon wafer size of 300 mm. Along the way, Micron bought a 24% stake in Rexchip Electronics Corporation Powerchip Technology Corporation, which has increased its total stake to 89%. This is enough to get 100% of the company's product. Micron has passed under the control of the company and the Japanese Akita Elpida, which is engaged in the packaging and testing of finished products.
At the factory Elpida and Rexchip capable of producing up to 185,000 wafer size of 300 mm per year. This will allow Micron to increase its own production volume by 45%. As noted, the new assets will allow Micron to strengthen the position in the segment of memory for mobile devices, Micron itself is traditionally strong in the segment of server memory and solid-state solutions.
Yukio Sakamoto, CEO of Elpida, after the completion of the transaction is leaving his post. His place will be Yoshitaka Kinoshita, whose position will be referred to as the president of the Japanese branch Micron.