Two months ago, the Dutch company ASML Holding reported on agreement to absorb the Taiwanese company Hermes Microvision Inc. (HMI). HMI cost with 30% premium was set at $ 3.2 billion. This transaction should be the largest in the history of high-tech industry in Taiwan.
As reported a few days ago the site The China Post, in general, the Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission found a direct violation of the antimonopoly legislation of the country. In other words, the takeover deal is permitted, although a separate question will be subject to approval. In particular, it is required to examine the likelihood of monopoly power in the market expansion ASML product range HMI equipment for testing wafers with chips.
Recall, ASML company is a leading provider of lithography scanners for manufacturing semiconductors. HMI Products - a cathode-ray scanners for the production and testing of chips on wafers. For the company ASML most valuable in the HMI is the second - the tools for the detection of defects on wafers before cutting into individual chips. The smaller the cell size, the more difficult to detect the defect.
Since the beginning of the production of 10-nanometer chips, and the further reduction of process technology scale factory testing becomes a real problem. The acquisition of HMI promises to build equipment for testing with the scanner ASML, which obviously complicate the lives of competitors who do not have such complex equipment.