Micron Technology’s announced acquisition of a bankrupt Japanese memory company gives the Boise company more muscle in a the volatile semiconductor industry and could help with ups and downs in prices that have hurt Micron, analysts say.

And Micron structured the deal so that the company it is buying would pay off $1.75 billion in debt — essentially interest-free — through cash flow over the next seven years. "It's a clever bit of finance," said Mike Howard, an IHS iSuppli semiconductor analyst and former Micron employee.

Micron’s purchase of Elpida Memory Inc. means that three companies, Micron, Hynix and Samsung, control 90 percent of the dynamic random access memory market that puts chips into computer hard drives and cell phones.

Holding 25 percent of that market, instead of about 13 percent that it once did, gives Micron more control over capacity, which could help even out the prices that have contributed to the company’s four straight quarters of losses, Howard said.

Bill Roberts: 377-6408