|
Micron dismissed an informal $23 billion offer by state-backed
investment firm Unigroup in July on the presumption that the
U.S. regulatory committee that reviews foreign acquisitions of
sensitive U.S. companies would block the deal on national
security concerns, sources have said.
In August, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York called on
the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United
States (CFIUS) to reject Tsinghua’s acquisition attempt, citing
Micron’s role in making chips used in U.S weapons systems.
Republican U.S. Senator John McCain had raised national security
concerns in July from the proposed deal.
But Unigroup chairman Zhao Weiguo's visit reflects a belief
within the Tsinghua camp that there is still hope for what would
be the largest foreign deal by a Chinese company and a major
step for the nation's modest but up-and-coming chip industry.
Zhao will also make a stop in Washington to meet with policy
experts familiar with the CFIUS approval process, one of the
sources said. Zhao is expected to return to Beijing next week.
Idaho-based Micron is the last major U.S.-based manufacturer of
so-called dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, which are
used in personal computers. In recent months Tsinghua has
continued its pursuit of Micron despite the U.S. company's
rebuffs.
After the $23 billion offer was rejected by Micron in July, Xu
Jinhong, chairman of Unigroup’s parent company Tsinghua
Holdings, told Reuters that Tsinghua had not given up, saying he
hoped the deal "could eventually come through".
(Reporting by Krista Hughes in WASHINGTON and Gerry Shih in
BEIJING; Additional reporting by Noel Randewich in SAN FRANCISCO
and Liana Baker in NEW YORK; Editing by Muralikumar
Anantharaman)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
|
