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Sources told Reuters earlier this week that Micron has dismissed
an informal $23 billion offer from Tsinghua Unigroup, a private
equity subsidiary of Tsinghua Holdings, on the presumption that
a deal would be blocked by U.S. regulators.
The mooted takeover of the last remaining U.S. dynamic memory
chipmaker would be the largest foreign deal by a Chinese
company. But analysts on both sides of the Pacific have
downplayed its likelihood, citing U.S. national security
concerns.
Xu Jinghong, chairman of Tsinghua Holdings, said he remained
hopeful, although his firm has not held any discussions with
U.S. regulators about Micron.
"It would be of great significance to China's domestic
semiconductor industry," Xu told Reuters, speaking on the
sidelines of a business event in Taipei. "We hope the deal can
eventually come through."
Xu added that his firm has not received any directive from
Chinese government about the potential offer.
Over the past year Tsinghua Unigroup has consolidated China's
semiconductor sector and received financial backing from the
state to close the technological gap with industry leaders like
Qualcomm Inc <QCOM.O>.
Still, the company has been wary about being seen as an
extension of China's government, and says its acquisitions have
all been carried out with private capital.
The political context is seen as the biggest hurdle to a
prospective deal: Micron has told Tsinghua its offer is not
realistic because U.S. authorities would block the deal due to
national security concerns, according to people familiar with
the matter.
(Additional reporting by Gerry Shih in BEIJING; Writing by Faith
Hung; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
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