What Micron’s purchase of a Taiwan chipmaker means for the Boise company

Micron Technology Inc. says it will get leading-edge technology and financial benefits from its purchase this week of Taiwan-based memory chip manufacturer Inotera Memories Inc.

Micron has had a piece of the company for eight years. It bought 36 percent of Inotera in 2008 from a German firm headed into bankruptcy, and it bought all the dynamic random-access memory chips that Inotera produces. On Tuesday, Micron bought the rest of the company for $4 billion from Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp., ending their joint venture.

Inotera’s purchase will help Micron’s DRAM profitability, said Mark Durcan, Micron CEO.““We are excited to finalize the Inotera acquisition, which will generate significant financial and strategic benefits for the company,” he said in a news release.

The purchase comes as the market for DRAM, one of the Boise memory-chip maker’s principal products, is surging after declining for a couple of years, said Mike Howard, a Boise semiconductor analyst for research firm IHS iSuppli and a former Micron employee.

Inotera already supplies Micron with 35 percent of its DRAM. The purchase won’t have an immediate impact on the plant’s output or production, said David Oro, Micron spokesman.

Howard said DRAM, used in personal computers, smartphones and other devices, perked up in June because of demand from China for cellphones, increased demand for servers and new life in the PC market. He thinks the stronger market could last for a couple of years.

Micron paid a portion of its sales from Inotera products to the Taiwan company, Howard said. “They didn’t have full control of that facility,” he said.

This story was originally published December 8, 2016 at 10:30 AM with the headline "What Micron’s purchase of a Taiwan chipmaker means for the Boise company."