Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技) yesterday said that the US’ Micron Technology would fully subscribe to its NT$5 billion (US$169 million), 736 million common-share offering, the latest effort by the lossmaking Taiwanese DRAM manufacturer to improve its financial structure.
The deal will boost Micron’s holding to 40 percent from the current 30 percent, allowing the US memory chipmaker to surpass Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) to become Inotera’s biggest shareholder.
Nanya, the nation’s top DRAM chipmaker, will hold a 26 percent stake in Inotera following the transaction.
The price was set at NT$6.55, representing an 11 percent discount to Inotera’s closing price of NT$7.40 yesterday. The transaction will be made via private placement by Micron subsidiary Numonyx Holding.
“The share sale will help lift the company’s net value and improve the company’s financial structure,” Inotera said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. “Micron will receive more 30-nanometer [nm] capacity, which will help boost Inotera’s profits, as its shareholding will change, without a board shakeup.”
Taoyuan-based Inotera is also in talks with banks for a new syndicated loan of NT$10 billion, company president Charles Kau (高啟全) told reporters.
Kau said business was on the rebound, with factory utilization recovering to 90 percent, thanks to improving demand.
Inotera lost NT$21 billion last year as low demand cut prices. The stock’s net value fell to NT$7 a share at the end of last year, from NT$11.5 a share a year ago.
Inotera plans to spend NT$4 billion on its upgrade to 30nm process technology and will increase its spending later in line with its technology migration. Last year, the chipmaker budgeted NT$11.6 billion for technology migration.
TRADE WAR: Tariffs should also apply to any goods that pass through the new Beijing-funded port in Chancay, Peru, an adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump said A veteran adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump is proposing that the 60 percent tariffs that Trump vowed to impose on Chinese goods also apply to goods from any country that pass through a new port that Beijing has built in Peru. The duties should apply to goods from China or countries in South America that pass through the new deep-water port Chancay, a town 60km north of Lima, said Mauricio Claver-Carone, an adviser to the Trump transition team who served as senior director for the western hemisphere on the White House National Security Council in his first administration. “Any product going
TECH SECURITY: The deal assures that ‘some of the most sought-after technology on the planet’ returns to the US, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said The administration of US President Joe Biden finalized its CHIPS Act incentive awards for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), marking a major milestone for a program meant to bring semiconductor production back to US soil. TSMC would get US$6.6 billion in grants as part of the contract, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement yesterday. Though the amount was disclosed earlier this year as part of a preliminary agreement, the deal is now legally binding — making it the first major CHIPS Act award to reach this stage. The chipmaker, which is also taking up to US$5 billion
High above the sparkling surface of the Athens coastline, the cranes for building the 50-floor luxury tower centerpiece of Greece’s future “smart city” look out over the Saronic Gulf. At their feet, construction machinery stirs up dust. Its backers say the 8 billion euro (US$8.43 billion) project financed by private funds is a symbol of Greece’s renaissance after the years of financial stagnation that saw investors flee the country. However, critics see it more as a future “ghetto for the rich.” It is hard to imagine that 10km from the Acropolis, a new city “three times the size of Monaco”
STRUGGLING BUSINESS: South Korea’s biggest company and semiconductor manufacturer’s buyback fuels concerns that it could be missing out on the AI boom Samsung Electronics Co plans to buy back about 10 trillion won (US$7.2 billion) of its own stock over the next year, putting in motion one of the larger shareholder return programs in its history. South Korea’s biggest company would repurchase the stock in stages over the coming 12 months, it said in a regulatory filing on Friday. As a first step, it would buy back about 3 trillion won of paper starting today up until February next year, all of which it would cancel. The board would deliberate on how best to effect the remaining 7 trillion won of buybacks. The move
RSS