TAIPEI (AFP) — Qimonda AG of Germany said Monday it has agreed to sell its 35.6 percent stake in Taiwan-based Inotera Memories Inc. to Micron Technology Inc. of the US for 400 million US dollars in cash.
Inotera, a memory chip maker, is a joint venture between Qimonda and Taiwan's Nanya Technology, which also holds a 35.6 percent stake.
In a statement, Qimonda said Micron will purchase the stake in two instalments and Qimonda's share of Inotera's capacity will be ramped down over the eight months following the closing of the deal.
Micron said in a separate statement it has obtained 285 million dollars in term loan financing commitments from strategic sources to fund the acquisition.
The US firm said it will share its Stack dynamic random access memory (DRAM) technology with Inotera for the production of Stack DRAM products for Micron and Nanya.
"This new relationship with Inotera will increase Micron's competitiveness by further leveraging our current MeiYa joint venture with Nanya," Micron chairman and chief executive officer Steve Appleton said in the statement.
"Micron will gain greater scale in DRAM, reduce our operating expenses per wafer and have access to a very cost competitive operation," Appleton said.
A Nanya Technology spokeswoman said Nanya will help Inotera smooth out the technology transition from Qimonda to Micron.
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