Improving markets, talks of acquisition and new-product development are propelling Micron Technology Inc. into its future, and newly named CEO Mark Durcan plans to be a part of it for a good long while.

In his first meeting with analysts since the death of Steve Appleton a week earlier, Durcan on Friday sought to set the tone of a company in charge of its own destiny despite the loss of its visionary leader.

“I think Steve would have been happy” with Durcan’s comments, said Betsy Van Hees, a senior vice president and semiconductor analyst at Wedbush Securities’ San Francisco office.

Appleton, Micron’s chairman and CEO for 18 years, died Feb. 3 when the small plane he was piloting crashed at Boise Airport.

Durcan, who had been Micron’s No. 2 man, said his announced plans of retirement a week before Appleton’s death was not a result of differences with his boss.

“I was going to take some time and spend it with my family,” he told analysts at Micron’s winter analysts conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.

When Micron’s board asked him to take charge of the company, Durcan said, he did it expecting to stay.

“I can’t do anything half-assed,” he said. “I’m not as good as Steve at some sports, but I’m a hard-nosed competitor. There is nothing interim about my role as CEO of Micron.”

Durcan needed to make his position clear to eliminate any speculation that he was merely a stop-gap commander until the next one comes along, analysts said.

That was the right message for the right audience, said Mike Howard, a semiconductor analyst in Boise for market-research company IHS iSuppli and a former Micron employee. Durcan was facing a “room full of people who have a lot of influence over what your stock is worth,” he said.

After Appleton’s death, Micron moved quickly to restore its leadership command by promoting Durcan, the former president and chief operating officer, to CEO.

The board also elevated Mark Adams, who has been vice president of worldwide sales, to president. Both appointments were made the day after Appleton’s death.

As a result, Wall Street took the jolt to Micron in stride, and the company’s stock price fell only slightly on Monday, its next trading day, analysts said. Micron closed down 2.8 percent at $7.72 that day and closed Friday at $7.91, down 4 cents from the previous Friday.

The company is in a strong position in a business where competitors are getting increasingly hammered by debt-management missteps. Talk of industry consolidation is everywhere.

“Micron sits as a well-established, financially stable leader in the memory markets,” Van Hees said.

Micron is the only U.S. maker of dynamic random-access memory, common in personal computers. Memory chip makers in Taiwan and Japan are faltering.

Reports persist that Micron is in talks with Elpida, a heavily indebted Japanese chip maker, although neither company is talking. Micron leaders told the analysts they are always looking for deals that would benefit the company.

If the two companies join forces, together they would eclipse Korean-based Hynix as the second-largest producer of DRAM after Samsung, also in Korea.

Appleton believed the industry would consolidate, Howard said. “I would expect Mark was fully aware of that.”

Appleton’s goal was to be the last company standing. “As long as you were around when the music stopped, it was great,” Howard said.

Bill Roberts: 377-6408