Micron buys ’s memory supplier Elpida

Micron Technologyon Thursdayinformed investorsit has completed its$2 billion acquisition ofElpida Memory,the third-largest maker of dynamic random access memory chips (DRAM) and an important supplier. The rumored move was expected given Elpida’s been struggling for some time amid heightening competition with SK Hynix and .The struggling Japanese chip maker last summerfiled for bankruptcy and has since been in talks to sell its business to U.S.-based Micron Technology Corp. placed a huge order with Elpida ahd of the iPhone 5 production, indiing desire tomaintain its bargaining power by keeping the memory maker running.Elpida’s memory products power ’s latest i and iPads and are also found inside Google’s 7 and other non- gadgets…The dl will boost Micron’s current manufacturing capacity by 45 percent, turning it into the second-largest memory company in the world.Micronsaid:The acquisition gives Micron 100 percent ownership in Elpida, including a 300mm DRAM fab in Hiroshima, Japan, and approximately 65 percent ownership interest in Rexchip, which includes 100% of the capacity of their 300mm DRAM fab in Taiwan.In addition to capacity, we’re also gaining advanced technology and IP, R&D economies of scale, synergies in technical roadmaps, and the talent and expertise of the Elpida and Rexchip tm members.WhersElpida has built a strong presence in mobile DRAM products for smart and tablets, Micron is the lder in enterprise DRAM solutions for networking and servers, though it also owns a wide product portfolio in NAND flash memory and NOR.iSuppli forecast that mobile DRAM’s proportion in the DRAM market will incrse from 34 percent this yr to 41 percent in 2014 and 43 percent in 2015.The development is newsworthy as Elpida is ’s major supplier of memory chips.A yr ago,Reutersreported had booked half the output of Elpida’s twelve-inch plant in Hiroshima, Japan.The iPhone 5′s A6 chip, for instance, uses 1GB of RAM by Elpida, adetailed chip analysishas revled.Moreover, iFixit’siPhone 4S trdownshows Elpida’s DDR2 RAM insidethe Australian version of the handset. The repair wizardsalso discoveredtwo4Gb LP DDR2 modules from Elpida inside the iPad 3,totaling to 1 GB DRAM in separate packages in a 64-bit configuration.According to DRAMeXchange, ended the first quarter of 2012 with a commanding 70.9 percent share of global mobile DRAM market, followed by #2 SK Hynix (fifteen percent share) and #3 Elpida (8.8 percent share).By contrast, first-quarter 2013 market share data byiSupplihas lding the pack with about49.7 percent of the global market, followed by #2SK Hynix (23 percent share), #3 Micron (22 percent) and #4 Elpida (4.5 percent).DigiTimeslast September claimed had“reduced its orders with and raised the proportion of purchases from other suppliers including SK Hynix, and Elpida Memory”. The rumorwiped out ten billion dollarsfrom ’s market value.The same publiion inMay 2012 claimed secured half the manufacturing output from Elpida. was quick tokinda deny the report, saying“ is definitely using the chips”in an effort tosoothe market concerns over the impact on the -Elpida tie-up.However,’s name was dropped from ’s list of DRAM and NAND memory chip suppliers. The iPhone maker has been distancing itself from the South Korn enemy for some time now so I’m not surprised Tim Cook & Co. are now sourcing memory chips for gadgets from Corp, Elpida Memory and SK Hynix.