That Elpida will have to close is a fact, and the vultures are circling the corps to claim the viable parts of the company. Besides Micron that is said to buy Elpida’s plant in Hiroshima, also Toshiba and Hynix are interested.
Elpida is world’s third largest manufacturer of DRAM chips, and right now the only solution seems to be an acquisition. The entire memory industry had a weak year in 2011, and the threat from Samsung that is the only company making a profit continues to grow.
Elpida has run out of options to pay back its debt of 5.5 billion dollar, and the only solution left is to be acquiredone way or another. American Micron has also had a rough period, but still has cash to buy what is left of Elpida. The Hiroshima fab Elpida has Micron believes will help them make profit in the long run, thanks to the increase in capacity it would bring.
Elpida’s fab in Hiroshima is of great interest to Micron
Japanese Toshiba has considered investing in Elpida, but it is also in debt and the question is if it is interested in investing money to once again get into DRAM manufacturing. Toshiba doesn’t want full ownership in Elpida, but has suggested a consortium with other companies. Also Korean Hynix is on the same track, and its stock holders have requested a clear answer to this the very latest on April 2nd.
The situation is still very blurry for Elpida. We find it unlikely for Toshiba to get into the DRAM market again after leaving it many years ago, if not making it a consortium along with other companies. Micron sounds like the most realistic alternative, but time is running out for Elpida, and we can expect a definitive answer in early April. The problem remains that we are losing actors and that one of the remaining is doing so much better than the rest.
Source: TheInquirer
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