Micron acquisitions of Elpida Memory equity and Rexchip share close

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, July 31 - Elpida Memory, Inc. and Micron Technology, Inc. closed on Micron's acquisition of 100% of Elpida's equity under a sponsor agreement entered into on July 2, 2012 in connection with Elpida's corporate reorganization proceedings in the Tokyo District Court, according to a Micron news release.

In a related transaction, Micron also announced the completion of its acquisition of a 24% share of Rexchip Electronics Corp. from Powerchip Technology Corp. and some of its affiliates.

According to the release, Elpida's assets include a 300 millimeter DRAM fabrication facility located in Hiroshima, Japan; a 65% ownership interest in Rexchip, whose assets include a 300mm DRAM fabrication facility located in Taiwan; and a 100% ownership interest in Akita Elpida Memory, Inc., whose assets include an assembly and test facility located in Akita, Japan.

Together with the Rexchip shares acquired from Powerchip, Micron said it will control about 89% of Rexchip's outstanding shares and 100% of Rexchip product supply.

Micron said the manufacturing assets of Elpida and Rexchip together can produce more than 185,000 300mm wafers per month, which represents a roughly 45% increase in Micron's current manufacturing capacity.

"We are pleased to bring together Elpida with Micron to form the industry's leading pure-play memory company," Micron chief executive officer Mark Durcan said in the release.

"This combination will result in enhanced R&D and manufacturing scale, significant cost and production synergies and a stronger memory product portfolio to provide solutions to our customers."

Effective with the closing, Elpida CEO, president and co-trustee Yuko Sakamoto announced his resignation. Yoshitaka Kinoshita will replace him as the president, representative director and business trustee of Elpida and become the president of Micron Japan.

Elpida, a Tokyo-based manufacturer of DRAM integrated circuits, filed for bankruptcy on March 19, 2012 to gain recognition of its Japanese proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Its Chapter 15 case number is 12-10947.

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