Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) is acquiring Numonyx, giving the memory chip giant a stake in the promising market for phase change memory (see Phase Change Memory: The Next Big Thing in Data Storage?).
Micron will pay about $1.27 billion in stock for Numonyx, a joint venture of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and STMicroelectronics. The deal also gives the DRAM and NAND maker added presence in the markets for RAM, NOR and NAND flash memory, the technology underpinning solid state drives (SSDs) and other devices.
Micron will also be better positioned to compete against flash makers Samsung, Toshiba and Hynix.
Micron said the deal gives it added manufacturing scale and access to Numonyx’s customer base, “providing significant opportunities to increase multi-chip offerings in the embedded and mobile markets.”
“Acquiring Numonyx brings together two memory leaders and positions Micron to offer the most comprehensive, cost-competitive solutions in the industry to a broad range of customers and end-markets,” Micron CEO Steve Appleton said in a statement.
Numonyx CEO Brian Harrison said the result of the merger will be “a strong company that can best serve our target market segments and customers by delivering enhanced memory solutions, strength and scale. It is good for Numonyx and good for Micron.”
Micron said the deal will add to its earnings in fiscal 2011, which begins in September 2010, and the Numonyx balance sheet is expected to be debt-free following closing. Micron said the acquisition will likely close in three to six months.
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